Woman funded £2k-a-month ketamine behavior with grownup work however admits ‘it almost killed me’

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT: Paige Kaye became hooked on ketamine in 2022 after upping her usage during the pandemic – snorting up to 10 grams of the substance each day

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A woman whose £2,000-a-month ketamine habit was funded by adult platforms and benefits is urging people to steer clear of the party drug – after urinating chunks of her own bladder. Paige Kaye was just 16 years old when she first tried the class-B drug in 2020.

The now 22-year-old continued using it socially with friends before upping her usage during the pandemic. However, by 2022 she was taking ketamine ‘almost daily’, snorting up to 10 grams of the highly-addictive substance each day.

At the height of her addiction, Paige estimated she was spending around £2,000 a month on ketamine, funding her habit through adult platforms and her Universal Credit allowance. During this time, Paige admits to using it throughout the night and as soon as she woke up in the morning.

However, Paige soon began to notice that her drug habit was having an impact on her physically, leading to agonising stomach cramps and a five stone weight loss.

Desperate, Paige reached out to a rehabilitation centre last year where she was admitted for two months to help curb her addiction.

Paige hasn’t used ketamine since April 2025 and is urging others to steer clear of the ‘dangerous’ drug that she claims nearly took her life.

Paige, from Nottingham, said: “I’d go through phases where I’d stop for a bit then be on it for a bit.

“But then it could get worse where I’d be doing it weekly or every couple of days before it got to the point where I was doing it almost daily in 2022.

“It was gradual. I’d have moments where I’d be doing it loads then it would slow down again.

“It got to the point where I’d be doing it as soon as I woke up. If I woke up in my sleep, I’d do it.

“I could never go to sleep if I still had some ket left. The first thing I’d be doing was ringing a dealer in the morning.

“On average I’d be doing six to 10 grams a day. It depends how much money I had that month, but at the worst of it I could’ve been spending £2,000 a month on it.”

Paige soon began to notice that her drug habit was having a detrimental effect on her body, causing her to urinate blood and drop to just five stone within a year.

Paige said: “I began getting ket cramps in 2022, it was this horrible pain in my stomach.

“It felt like my entire insides were just burning and I’d have to crouch over. Then when I started urinating blood, that’s when I began deteriorating really fast.

“At one point I urinated out part of my bladder, I think it was a part of my bladder that I’d destroyed. I was in daily pain, sometimes I’d be in A&E three times a week.

“I lost half my body weight in a year, I was around 10 stone before then dropped to 5st 7lbs in the next year. I was disgusted with how I looked, I would just wear baggy clothes.

“I would frequently urinate myself, I would just lay in my own urine. I had to wear incontinence pads and still wear them now just in case. I was having seven baths a day to help with the pain, I wanted to stop but I didn’t think I could.

“It was a vicious cycle because my body was in pain because of ketamine and ketamine is one of the things that helps with the pain so you’re stuck in this cycle.”

Paige decided enough was enough last year and was admitted to rehab after five years of addiction. Now clean for more than a year, Paige is urging others to steer clear of the drug.

Paige said: “I had an adult platform for a while so basically used that to fund it and I was on Universal Credit. I got into rehab and was there for two-and-a-half months, I was desperate to change.

“I thought I was going to die, I felt like my body wasn’t functioning properly.

“While in rehab, I was hospitalised because my liver function wasn’t right. I have fluid build-up in both kidneys and I have blood and scarring in my bladder.”