Emma Mack, 28, started using the drug at raves as a teenager, but her 10-year addiction eventually saw her bladder become so badly damaged that it was only able to hold four tablespoons of urine
A dental nurse claims she blew enough cash to buy ‘ten Mercedes’ on her ketamine addiction that left her using the bathroom every five minutes to ‘pee jelly’. Emma Mack, 28, started using the class-B drug as a teenager partying in Ibiza and at raves with her pals.
But within four years she was using it every day and her 10-year addiction eventually saw her bladder shredded and so badly damaged it was only able to hold four tablespoons of urine. And she began peeing ‘painful’ blood and jelly clots.
She visited the doctors and was booked in for a bladder stretch in April 2024, but despite being admitted into rehab that September, she relapsed just six days later and her bladder shrunk so much she had to visit the bathroom every five to ten minutes.
Her ketamine usage was so out of control that she had to quit her job as a dental nurse last January. 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’.
Emma, who has now been clean for four months, said: “The drug completely ruined my life. I could’ve got about ten Mercedes with the money 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 weekends 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 everyday in the morning and I couldn’t go without it. I was paying out of my own wage 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.”
At the height of her addiction, she was sniffing between 3.5 to seven grams a day and was forking out all her wages on the drug.
Doctors warned her to stop using the drug as it had damaged her bladder so much she could only hold 75ml of urine – around a sixth of regular capacity – and she had a bladder stretch and botox.
This involves injecting botulinum toxin into the bladder wall to relax the muscle and treat an overactive bladder. 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 the drug.
Believing she ‘would’ve been dead’ or needing a catheter if she’d continued using the drug, she is now warning people to stay away from it. Emma, of Edinburgh, is currently in a recovery house and must go for a bladder review every six months to see if she needs more botox.
She said: “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.”
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