A DENTAL nurse claims she blew enough cash to buy “ten Mercedes” on her ketamine addiction – which left her using the bathroom every FIVE minutes to ‘pee jelly’.
Emma Mack started using aged 19 while partying in and at raves with her pals because – but within four years, she was using it every day.
Emma Mack started using the class-B drug ketamine aged 19 while partying in Ibiza and at raves with her palsCredit: Kennedy News and Media
But within four years, she was using the drug every day, and she later began peeing ‘painful’ blood and jelly clotsCredit: Kennedy News and Media
Her 10-year addiction eventually saw and so badly damaged that it was only able to hold four tablespoons of urine.
After the 28-year-old began peeing “painful” , she visited the doctors and was booked in for a bladder stretch in April 2024.
Despite being admitted into rehab in September of the same year, she relapsed just six days later, and her bladder shrank so much she had to visit the bathroom every five to ten minutes.
Emma says she is “ashamed” to have even been forced to urinate on her own clothing during a flight with her boss after she was told she couldn’t use the bathroom.
Doctors warned her to stop using the drug as it had she could only hold 75ml of urine – around a sixth of regular capacity.
Her ketamine usage was so out of control she had to quit her job as a dental nurse in January last year.
Emma shared footage to of her “shrunk and inflamed” bladder, captioned “take ketamine, they said, it’ll be fun they said”.
The footage shows a hospital scan of her bladder in hospital, which looks extremely red and inflamed.
In another clip, you can see a devastated-looking Emma crying as she says, “It’s ruined my life”.
At the height of , she was sniffing between 3.5 and 7 grams a day and was forking out all her wages on the drug.
It wasn’t until Emma was admitted to a 14-week programme at a rehabilitation centre in July that she was able to “turn her life around” and has now been clean for four months.
Believing she “would’ve been dead” or left needing a catheter if she’d continued using the drug, she warns people to stay away from it.
Emma, who lives in , tells Sun Health: “The drug completely ruined my life. I could’ve got about ten with the I spent on ketamine, or I could’ve bought a house.
“It was just at parties, and I used to love going out to raves, and everyone was using ket. It’s just what everyone did.
“It started at the weekend and then I started using it during the week. I started using it if my friends were going out, and I’d be using it when we were going to the cinemas and stuff like that.
“I did know I had a problem, but the ketamine kind of takes it out of your body. I ended up using it every day in the morning, and I couldn’t go without it.
“I was paying out of my own wages and had no money left. I had a really good job as a dental nurse, and all my money was going on ket and I had nothing to show for it.”
Despite being admitted into rehab in September 2024 Emma relapsed just six days laterCredit: Kennedy News and Media
Her bladder had shrunk so much that she had to visit the bathroom every five to ten minutesCredit: Kennedy News and Media
Ketamine can lead to death by putting pressure on the heart and respiratory system. But its other effects on the body are horrifying tooCredit: Getty
The former DJ admitted she relied on the drug to ease her bladder pains, but it meant she couldn’t leave the house unless she was using.
Emma says: “It was a cycle because of the bladder pain. I ended up having UTI symptoms, and then I started peeing blood, and then I started peeing these sorts of jelly.
“They were really sore to pass, and then I’d pass the blood clots. I’m still passing these blood clots after four months clean. It’s horrible.
“If I was going anywhere, I wouldn’t drink anything, which would make it worse. If I was using ket I could go and do stuff. If I didn’t have ket I would be in my house.
“I actually went on an airplane with my boss and sat on the plane and went to the woman ‘I need to go to the toilet’, and she said, ‘you can’t’.
“I had to actually just pee on the plane. I had a body warmer, which was lucky, and luckily I had a change of trousers in my bag.
“It’s an embarrassing thing to have to stop and pee everywhere and plan my routes around the toilet.
“I was really ashamed, but at the same time the ket meant I didn’t really care. Now I feel ashamed.
“It did affect my work and everyone around me, but I was in such denial. I worked in the surgery for four hours at a time so it was painful holding pees and running to the toilet.
“I was using it before and after my shifts. During the middle of the day I felt I needed something to take that pain away.”
Emma got an appointment for a in April 2024 as she could only hold 200ml of urine – but it soon shrank further.
After attending rehab in September 2024 and relapsing just six days later she was forced to have a bladder stretch and Botox in January 2025 as she could only hold 75ml of urine.
The procedure involves injecting botulinum toxin into the bladder wall to relax the muscle and .
Emma says: “I went for the bladder stretching, and my usage was still extremely bad at that point, and two months after that I went into a and went back to work and stuff.
“I went really downhill, and I had to admit to [work] ‘I have to go to rehab’. But I used it afterwards and I had to say to them ‘sorry I can’t come back to work and I’m not safe’.
THE TOLL 'K' TAKES ON YOUR BODY
KETAMINE can lead to death by putting pressure on the heart and respiratory system.
But its other effects on the body, which are often irreversible, are horrifying, too.
“Ketamine bladder syndrome is one of the worst symptoms,” Dr Catherine Carney, an addiction specialist at Delamere , .
This is where the breakdown of ketamine in the body causes inflammation in the bladder wall.
It leaves people unable to hold urine and passing chunks of their bladder tissue.
Some users face the prospect of having their bladders removed entirely.
Dr Carney explains: “The lining of the bladder can shrink over time and be extremely painful for those experiencing it.
“This can often lead to lower abdominal pain and pain when passing urine, as well as bleeding.
“It’s usually what has forced people to get help because they can’t tolerate it any more.
“We’ve had young men in agony, wetting the bed.
“Their whole life is focused on where there’s a toilet because they can only hold urine for ten minutes.
“For a teenager or someone in their early 20s, that’s absolutely life-changing.
“In some cases, the bladder damage progresses to the kidneys and people get kidney failure, too.
“This is developing in people who have been using for two years, so it is relatively quick.”
Dr Carney adds that the urine samples of new guests checking into the clinic are often just a “pot of blood”.
This is followed by weeks of agony coming off the drug. An irony of ketamine use is people tend to take more and more to numb the pain of the side-effects it causes.
Dr Carney says: “There’s nothing that we can give which is as strong as a medical anaesthetic (the ketamine). We can use codeine-based products or anti-inflammatories.
“Some antidepressants help at night, but the pain is hard to manage in the early days.
“Most people that come to us, the bladder will improve to the point that they don’t need to have it removed.
“But once you’ve got a bladder that has shrunk to the size of 70ml, that’s never getting better.”
“If I did go back to work, I’d end up losing my licence or even worse, I could’ve done something that would affect their business, which I would never have wanted.
“I remember going to the hospital and giving them a [urine] sample and drank as much water as I could, but [75ml] was as much as I could pee.
“I literally had to sit in the hospital toilet for an hour and a half because it was just coming straight through me.
“In June I got the botox done again before I went into my third rehab. That was painful because my bladder was so inflamed.
“The doctors put my bladder on the screen and said ‘Your bladder is so inflamed, you need to stop using’.
“I said ‘I know, I’m trying’ but I was just lost. I’m so lucky that I still have my bladder today because I have seen a few people that haven’t got a bladder and have catheters.”
After attending rehab in September 2024 and relapsing just six days later, Emma was forced to have a bladder stretch and Botox in January 2025Credit: Kennedy News and Media
Now, she warns others to “avoid” using the drug completely and has encouraged addicts that “you can always change your life around”Credit: Kennedy News and Media
Emma is currently in a recovery house and must go for a bladder review every six months to see if she needs more Botox.
Now, she warns others to “avoid” using the drug completely and has encouraged addicts that “you can always change your life around”.
Emma says: “It’s the longest I’ve been clean and it’s been a hell of a two years.
“[Rehab] is the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. If I continued using I would’ve been dead or had a catheter for life.
“Avoid the drug. I’ve been in such a bad way that I don’t remember half of the things I’ve done. It’s scary people are using it at 13 years of age. It’s too cheap.
“You can always change your life around. I know how terrifying it is and I know the pain they’re in. That’s what breaks my heart so much.
“Just keep going and keep trying and keep going back to the meetings. One day hopefully you’ll find a better place and you’ll be better with life and find yourself.”
GETTING HELP:
If you think that you have a drug addiction then please contact your GP.
You can also visit FRANK for honest information about drugs and to find local treatment services.
If you are having trouble finding the right help, call the FRANK drugs helpline on 03001236600
Or click here to visit the NHS website for more advice and support
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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