Ketamine: 'I slept in the bath to be closer to the toilet'

Ketamine use has reached record levels in recent years, with young people in particular becoming increasingly hooked on the powerful anaesthetic.

But health professionals have warned the drug is leaving people with lifelong bladder disabilities.

Ian, 34, from Barnsley, started using ketamine recreationally as a teenager, but before he knew it, it had taken over his life.

Starting out as "a little bit of fun" he said his 20-year addiction nearly killed him.

"It feels like someone's setting fire to your insides," he said.

"It felt like grit inside me, and when I'm eating and drinking, you could feel everything. Just absolutely excruciating.

"It kind of started off as a little bit of fun, going to raves and stuff like that. I was curious as well. But once I got involved in it there was no way out of it.

"Once that pain had set in, I had no other option than to use ketamine for that pain."

He said his darkest days came when he was in so much pain he could no longer play with his four-year-old daughter.

"There were days where my daughter would be asking me to do jigsaws with her and I'd have to tell her I can't do it because I'm in so much pain, and that she would have to play by herself," he said.

"She would say to me, 'when are you going to get better Dad?' so she knew something wasn't right."

He said his addiction to Ketamine had changed his entire life.

"In the space of a year, I'd lost my family, I'd been evicted, I had to live in the back of my van for three months. I lost my driving licence, lost all my work. It was a progressive decline," he said.

"Before I knew it, everything was gone."

Because of the impact on his bladder, he said he had ended up sleeping in the bath to be closer to the toilet.

"As soon as I fell asleep I'd be back up again to go to the toilet so there was just no sleep involved," he said.

"I've had to lie in the bath and try to get a couple of hours before I'm back up again to go to the toilet because my bladder was so shrunken."

Dr Alison Downey is a consultant urologist with the Mid-Yorkshire and Barnsley NHS Trusts.

She said doctors were seeing an increasing number of people in the 20s with "quite significant problems with their bladder".

She said there was a perception that ketamine was "safer" than other drugs and so was being used by people from a younger age.

However, she said taking ketamine for as little as two weeks could lead to bladder damage.

"There's a lack of education and knowledge that actually taking ketamine for even a short period of time can cause significant issues," she said.

"The damage that's done can cause your bladder to shrink down to the size of a walnut rather than a nice inflatable balloon."

This shrinking of the bladder means that patients need to go to the toilet more often, as frequently as every 10 minutes.

The damage can also block the "pipes" that drain the urine from a person's kidneys to their bladder.

"You might need major reconstructive surgery to remove your bladder, have a stoma, and replace parts of the kidney pipes," said Dr Downey.

"We have unfortunately had a couple of patients who have died from kidney and liver failure from ongoing ketamine use."

But she adds that the damage can be reversible.

"The really good news is that for the vast majority of patients if you stop taking ketamine, you'll notice within a few weeks that you start to get better," she said.

"If you are taking ketamine and you've noticed that you're passing lots of urine or there's blood in your wee, get help.

"There's lots of help out there and it certainly is nothing to be embarrassed about."

According to the latest figures in 2023-24 around 19,000 people in Yorkshire and the Humber had used ketamine in the previous 12 months - up from 9,000 in 2013-14.

And, In England, the number of under-18s entering drug treatment who describe ketamine as one of their problem substances rose from 335 to 917 between 2020-21 and 2023-24, according to the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System.

Lewis Edwards runs a ketamine group through Forward Leeds, which provides support for people recovering from alcohol and drug addictions.

He said: "We're definitely seeing an increase in the number of people who are coming into the service for support around their ketamine use, but the more interesting thing is that the age that they're coming in is decreasing.

"With a lot of substances, it will be around 40 that people come in for support when they see those negative impacts, with ketamine it's much younger, which is implying those damages are coming on faster."

He said many people were turning to ketamine as it is a dissociative anaesthetic.

"People may start recreationally but then because of that effect, people will start using it for mental health and anxiety," he said.

"In small doses it can be very similar to being extremely drunk, and I think that's how most people come across it first in the night-time economy.

"They'll have a small amount, and they'll feel like they've drunk a lot of alcohol, and they feel like it's cheaper.

"As the dependency grows it starts to become more isolated and removed, until they're sort of sat in their room using it alone."

Mr Edwards added that the way to support young people with recovery involved having honest and open conversations.

"The number one thing I'd say is find out about the substance, also you can get in contact with organisations like Forward Leeds or ones in your area. There are some great resources online as well.

"Really meet them on their level and find out why they're doing it and what the appeal is."

Ian accessed support through another charity, Barnsley Recovery Steps, and has now moved to Scarborough as part of his recovery, where he volunteers at a local food bank.

"I went into rehab and it saved my life," he said.

"I thought it was for rich people to be honest, I never thought I'd have the opportunity to go into rehab."

Six months in, his condition is improving.

"Watching my vessel deteriorate to the point where I was on the brink of death, to then watch it start getting better, that's just a mental experience in itself," he said.

"Probably one of the best things I've found in recovery are the things you get back."

One of the most important things for Ian is being able to play with his daughter again.

He said: "We'd gone down to the park, and I remember I picked her up and she was looking into my eyes with this smile as if to say 'I've got my dad back.' "

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