Drug left mum, 27, needing bladder replacement after £1,000 a month habit

Amber Currah, 27, has been left incontinent following her ketamine use

View 2 Images

Amber Currah says ketamine “ruined” her life and she needs a bladder replacement(Image: Kennedy News and Media)

A 27-year-old mum has told how she has been left needing a new bladder due to her £1,000 a month ketamine habit. Amber Currah first tried ketamine on a night out with friends when she was 17 years old.

Just four months later Amber, from Morcambe in Lancashire, shared that she was taking 25 grams of the class B drug every week. Soon afterwards she noticed that the habit was starting to impact her bladder, and she had to begin wearing an incontinence pad every day.

The enormous quantity of ketamine that she consumed could put someone in a dissociative state, known colloquially as a “K-Hole”, each day.

Using ketamine repeatedly can cause damage to the bladder’s lining over time, which in turn can lead to symptoms including incontinence, bleeding, blockages, infections, and need to urinate more.

Amber has now been clean of ketamine for 17 months, but still suffers from several health complications as a result.

She needs to urinate every 15 minutes, and will sometimes lie in the bath for eight hours a day in an attempt to relieve her bladder pain.

Now, doctors have informed Amber that her intense, chronic use has meant her bladder is a fifth of the size it should be and she needs a transplant.

Amber is unable to work or live normally, and says that ketamine has “ruined” her life.

Now, she is warning others to stay well away from the drug. “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,” she said.

View 2 Images

Amber is warning others to steer clear of ketamine(Image: Kennedy News and Media)

“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 admits 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.”