Ketamine: Mum Amber Currah from Morecambe Lancashire says £1,000-a-month habit ruined her life - and she needs a new bladder

Amber Currah first tried the class B drug at 17 while on a night out with friends. 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 supply.

The mum-of-one soon began to notice her drug use was having an impact on her bladder, forcing Amber to wear an incontinence pad every day to stop her wetting herself. The staggering volume she consumed was enough to put someone in more than 20 dissociative states or K-holes every single day - as drug harm reduction websites warn just 150mg is considered a heavy dose. Chronic ketamine usage can affect the lining of the bladder, leading to an increase in the frequency of needing to urinate, infections, bleeding, blockages and incontinence.

Despite now being 17 months clean of ketamine, Amber still suffers with multiple health complications, urinating every 15 minutes and lying in the bath for 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 that 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.”

Drug harm reduction websites warn that just 150mg to be 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. Amber says she now spends up to four hours a day on the toilet and eight 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. 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.”

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. I was told it was a fifth of the size of a normal bladder. They said it's covered in scar tissue, which makes me prone to getting UTIs. Straight away, the doctors said your bladder needs to come out.

“That's how I knew it was an absolute mess. 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.”