Ketamine abuse destroys teenager’s bladder

A young man who started smoking cannabis at the age of 12 and became hooked on ketamine by time he was 16 has had to have his bladder replaced after it shrunk so much that he became incontinent.

The BBC documentary Old Before My Time features Chris, a young man from Hampshire. After experimenting with recreational drugs when he was just 12 years old, he became addicted to a powerful prescription drug called ketamine.

Ketamine is taken because it induces a state referred to as ‘dissociative anaesthesia’, which means it is a form of hallucinogen that distorts perception and produces feelings of detachment; as a result, it has become a popular recreational drug.

Chris became a regular abuser of the drug, taking 10-15 grams every night; however, within a few months of starting his abuse, his body started to react badly. He described the first time he realised something was wrong: “I was at a party, tried to go to the loo and it was really painful. Then a big lump of goo came out – blood, mess – it was horrible.”

Chris visited a specialist doctor who informed him that his bladder had shrunk so much that it was smaller than that seen in elderly men. Whereas a normal bladder can hold around 500ml, Chris’s bladder could only hold 5ml. Ketamine abuse had caused irreversible tissue scarring that prevented his bladder expanding properly.

Chris now faces a lifetime of discomfort and is also at risk of kidney infections. His bladder requires a fortnightly cleanse to remove semi-solid matter and will need replacing again in around 20 to 30 years.