Woman warns of 'ketamine bladder' after drug use scarred hers for life

Woman warns of 'ketamine bladder' after drug use scarred hers for life 3 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Molly Finlay BBC Scotland BBC Ellie Wight started taking ketamine five years ago Ellie Wight started taking ketamine when she was 18. It made her feel like she had "no worries" and "no cares", helping her to relax in social settings. She thought it was a "safe option" compared to other drugs, and "didn't think she'd have any issues". Five years later, the 23-year-old is living with permanent damage to her bladder caused by repeated use of the powerful class-B drug. Ketamine is widely used in the NHS as an anaesthetic, sedative and pain reliever, and is also commonly used on animals. Because of its hallucinogenic effects, it became known as a "party drug" though there is evidence that its recreational use is on the rise – and users are getting younger. Ellie says ketamine was very cheap and very easy to get. "You're paying, like £10, £20 per gram." "At my worst I was taking 3.5g every day. That was for £40, if not less." Within six months, Ellie, from Drumoak in Aberdeenshire, started experiencing symptoms of ketamine urinary tract syndrome, also known as 'ketamine bladder'. "Inflammation, constantly needing a pee, I started off getting UTIs (urinary tract infections) quite a lot," she says. "It's not something I'm really proud of, but when I was 18 years old and I'm sitting in traffic in Aberdeen, and I'm bursting for the toilet and you just physically can't hold it. "It's a lot mentally going through that." Ellie says the pain was a lot to go through Ketamine is illegal to take, carry, make or sell unless for licensed medical uses. As the drug is processed by the body and passed through urine it can cause the walls of the bladder to become irritated. Scarring, or fibrosis, leaves the usually stretchy organ tight and constricted, meaning it is less able to fill with and hold urine. Despite its name, 'ketamine bladder' affects the entire urinary tract, including the kidneys and ureters. It is characterised by pain in the stomach and back, a frequent and urgent need to urinate, blood in the urine, and sometimes incontinence. A normal bladder can hold between 300ml to 600ml of urine. Ellie says hers can now hold just 50ml to 100ml. She says that when she first quit the drug her bladder healed within a month or two, however, she soon returned to taking it. "Unfortunately, this time round, it didn't heal," she says. It is now 10 months since she took the drug and she's still managing pain caused by its use. Ketamine addict: 'I can't walk 50m without weeing' Ketamine is 'not worth losing your bladder for' Could ketamine on the NHS help treat severe depression? A UK government report published in March 2024, found that ketamine use in young people in England and Wales aged 16-24 years, had increased by 231% since March 2013. In Scotland, similar data is not collected, but urologists say the number of children presenting with symptoms