TRADESMAN SO ADDICTED TO KETAMINE HE SNORTED LINES 'FOR BREAKFAST' AND OPERATED MACHINERY AT WORK

Self-employed dryliner Alex Logan said he would sniff ketamine off his phone on the way to work - then climb scaffolding and drive scissor lifts under the influence.

But the 'insane' seven-gram-a-day habit eventually shredded Alex's bladder so badly he had to curl up 'like a foetus' on the shower floor just to urinate.

The 31-year-old started using ketamine regularly just on nights out in 2020, saying it would help him 'zone out' and 'forget his problems' - but he quickly felt dependent on it.

Family and friends told the plasterer he had a problem as his self-confessed 'dangerous' and 'ridiculous' behaviour escalated to taking the substance 'first thing' in the morning.

But the penny finally dropped when Alex began to suffer 'electric shock' bladder pains, which caused him to 'wake screaming' in pain.

Urination became a humiliating ordeal, as Alex would have to lie in his shower cubicle in the foetal position and squeeze like he was 'giving birth'.

Doctors said the five-year addiction shredded his bladder so badly it could only hold 70ml of urine - less than a fifth of regular capacity.

He was finally admitted to Abbeycare rehab facility in Gloucester on June 30th, his 31st birthday, which he called the 'best present I've ever had'.

Alex, from Pontypridd, Wales, but now living in Gloucester, said: "I went to work in Northern Ireland for six months and the guy I was working with was taking ketamine every night. We were staying in a room together and I ended up having a bit every night with him. By the time we came home six months later, I was fully addicted.

"I was doing it every day after work, going to the pub. [Whereas] alcohol and cocaine made me paranoid, made me think a lot - ketamine would just zone me out, I'd forget about my problems."

While he would initially take the drug socially, Alex began to isolate himself until his dependency began to encroach on his daily life.

Alex said: "Things kept progressing and I started doing it on my own. The first thing I'd do when I woke up was have a line - ketamine for breakfast and for tea.

"I'd even take it to work with me. I thought it was normal. I'd be on the way to work in the van and I'd make a line on my phone.

"Then I'd be up scaffolds or driving scissor lifts around while I was on ketamine. When I think of how dangerous that is, how insane it is, it's absolutely ridiculous, it's insanity.

"My mates would see me doing lines at half past ten in the morning and they would say - 'you're insane, what are you doing mate, you've got a problem'."

But it wasn't until Alex started feeling unusual pains in his back and bladder that he began to recognise how damaging his addiction had become.

He developed ulcerative cystitis - the shedding of the bladder lining until it is effectively shrunken or destroyed.

The damaged tissue is often urinated out in fragments or lumps of blood.

Alex said: "I started having big problems with my bladder, having pain when I tried to wee and stuff. It starts off as stomach cramps. It's the worst pain you can imagine, you think you're going to die.

"It's like you're getting electric shocks, these extraordinary electric shocks up your bits and your bladder. I'd wake screaming.

"I was going to the toilet every 15 or 20 minutes. I would often have bits of blood in my wee - scar tissue from my bladder."

The pain became so severe that Alex left his job and spent most of his time in his bedroom, unable to urinate without extreme discomfort.

Alex said: "Eventually I had to stop work - I couldn't go out. My health got so bad that I could no longer go for a wee standing up - I had to get in a foetal position in a shower cubicle.

"I would have to push like I was giving birth for about ten minutes and then a dribble would come out. And that was my life for about 18 months, then."

Alex finally checked into Abbeycare rehab facility in Gloucester on June 30, and says he is a 'new man' after undergoing a 12-week detox.

Now living in Gloucester, the former dryliner plans to do a counselling course and help others with addiction.

Alex said: "I went to rehab on my 31st birthday. Best present I've ever had. I stayed in the town where I did my rehab, now I'm living in Gloucester. I'm looking to go to college to do a counselling course. I want to go and work in rehab.

"I get joy from helping people, and I know a lot about addiction. When you're taking drugs, all you're doing is slowly committing suicide. Ketamine is going to be the death of many young women and many young men."