My 25g-a-week, £1k ‘Special K’ habit turned me into a Zombie – wetting myself and needing a new bladder at just 27
A MUM was left wetting herself and needing a new bladder at just 27 after falling into the clutches of the popular party drug ketamine.
Amber Currah first tried the class B drug at the age of 17 while on a night out with friends.
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Within four years, Amber said she was sniffing a terrifying 25 grams of ketamine a week and forking out nearly £1,000 a month on her habit.
The mum-of-one soon began to notice her drug use was having an impact on her bladder, forcing her to wear an incontinence pad every day.
The staggering volume she was consuming was enough to plunge someone in a dissociative state or ‘k-hole’ more than 20 times every single day – as drug harm reduction websites warn just 150mg is considered a ‘heavy’ dose.
It comes as new figures show ketamine deaths have soared by a staggering 650 per cent since 2015, claiming one life a week across the UK.
Experts warn the general anaesthetic is poised to become the next ‘pandemic’ on the country’s streets.
Shocking data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and The UKAT Group revealed ketamine deaths among women have tripled in the past ten years while fatalities among under-30s have skyrocketed by 300 per cent.
Just seven people in England and Wales lost their lives to ketamine in 2015, according to the report, but by 2023 that number had rocketed to 53.
There’s been a steady rise in deaths every year except 2019.
Chronic ketamine use can affect the lining of the bladder, leaving sufferers needing to pee more frequently while battling infections, bleeding, blockages and incontinence.
Despite giving up ketamine 17 months ago, Amber still suffers with multiple health complications, having to pee every 15 minutes and lie in the bath for up to eight hours a day to relieve herself of bladder pain.
Doctors told the mum that her bladder was so damaged by long-term drug use that it had shrunk to a fifth of its normal size and would need to be replaced.
Unable to work or live normally, the 27-year-old admits the party drug has ‘ruined’ her life and is warning others to steer clear.
Amber, from Morecambe, Lancashire, said: “I first tried it when I was 17 on a night out with friends. I tried it and actually didn’t like it, I felt like a zombie.
“I just kept taking it now and then over a couple of years then ended up liking it. It was a gradual thing.
“When I was about 19, I started taking it more and more. I found that every time I took ketamine, it seemed to calm my mind. At around 21, I just started taking it every single day.
“I would wake up in the mornings and sniff a line of ket. I’d wake up sometimes in the middle of the night and just sniff another line – that’s how addicted I was.
“It took me around two years to actually admit that I was fully addicted. I was spending around £30 a day on ket, sniffing 25 grams a week.”
Devastating effects
Drug harm reduction websites warn just 150mg is a ‘heavy’ dose.
At the height of her addiction, Amber was often consuming more than 20 times this volume a day and soon began to notice the effect this was having on her body.
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Amber admits she now spends up to four hours a day on the toilet as well as hours in the bath to relieve herself of persistent bladder pains.
Amber said: “I started feeling like I had a pretty severe UTI and didn’t think it was anything to do with ket.
“A few years later, my bladder started getting really bad. On nights out I was going to the toilet so much that people were noticing.
“That was the first sign that I noticed issues with my bladder. Then I had to start wearing [incontinence] pads.
I still feel like I’m paying for what I did to myself even though I’d had all this time off ketamine. If I could prevent anyone from touching ketamine again, I would.
Amber Currah
“For five years now, I’ve been fully incontinent. I wet the bed every single night.
“One time I was stuck on the toilet for 26 hours because I was in so much pain. My mum brought a duvet and pillow and I slept on the toilet.
“I’ve not been able to work for years now or go on holiday, I’m at home all the time.”
Seeking ‘normal life’
In summer 2023, Amber made the decision to wean herself off ketamine entirely after eight years.
Despite being clean of the party drug for nearly two years, tests revealed Amber’s bladder has shrunk to a fifth of the size of a normal bladder.
Amber is currently on the waiting list to receive a neobladder – an operation in which a new bladder is created surgically from a section of the bowel.
Amber said: “They put a camera up my bladder and said it’s an absolute mess.
“They said it’s covered in scar tissue, which makes me prone to getting UTIs.
The devastating impact of ketamine
Ketamine is a very powerful anaesthetic that can cause serious harm.
Taking ketamine can be fatal, particularly if it is mixed with other drugs.
Physical health risks
In the short term, it can increase your heart rate and blood pressure, and make you feel sick.
It can also make you confused, agitated, delirious and disconnected from reality.
As it leads to loss of feeling in your body, paralysis of the muscles and loss of touch with reality, ketamine can leave you vulnerable to hurting yourself or being hurt by others.
Because you don’t feel pain properly when you’ve recently taken the drug, you can injure yourself and not know you’ve done it.
The party drug can cause damage to your short and long term memory.
Prolonged use can also result in serious bladder problems, causing an urgent, frequent and painful need to pee and blood stained urine.
Although stopping using ketamine can help, sometimes the damage can be so serious that the bladder needs surgical repair or even removal.
The urinary tract, from the kidneys down to the bladder, can also be affected and you may be left incontinent – meaning you can’t hold in your pee.
Abdominal pain, sometimes called ‘K cramps’, have been reported by people who have taken ketamine for a long time.
Finally, evidence of liver damage due to regular, heavy ketamine use is emerging.
Mental health risks
The longer term effects of ketamine use can include flashbacks, memory loss and problems with concentration.
Regular use can cause depression and, occasionally, psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations.
Ketamine can also make existing mental health problems worse.
Medical grade ketamine is now being researched as a potential treatment for severe depression, but it is too early to know the results of this research.
Source: FRANK
“Straight away, [the doctors] said your bladder needs to come out.
“After the surgery, my bladder should be able to function as normal again. I would do it tomorrow if I could live a normal life.
“I still feel like I’m paying for what I did to myself even though I’d had all this time off ketamine.
“If I could prevent anyone from touching ketamine again, I would. I regret ever taking that first line at 17.
“If I hadn’t stopped taking it, it would’ve eventually killed me.
“This drug has affected me in every way. I’ve not been able to work for five years because of it. Ketamine ruined my life.”
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