Woman urinated chunks of own bladder after £2,000-a-month ketamine addiction
Warning: This article contains discussion of drug addiction and graphic images which some readers may find distressing.
A woman who had a ketamine addiction has been telling other people to stay well away after she started urinating chunks of her own bladder.
22-year-old Paige Kaye first took ketamine in 2020 when she was 16 and started taking it socially, but when the pandemic lockdown kicked in she increased her habit.
By 2022 she was taking the drug 'almost daily' as she was snorting as much as 10 grams and was spending around £2,000 a month on ketamine, getting the money from her Universal Credit benefits and OnlyFans.
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By this time she was taking ketamine as soon as she woke up in the morning and continued to use it throughout the night as well.
She also started suffering from painful stomach cramps and lost five stone in weight, saying: "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."
The woman said she'd 'have moments where she'd be doing it loads then it would slow down again', but she got to a point where she couldn't sleep if she still had some ketamine to take.
"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," she explained.
"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."
The woman said that she was stuck in a 'vicious cycle' where she was in pain because of the ketamine, but she also took ketamine to numb the pain.
She said: "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."
Last year she decided to go into rehab as she feared she 'was going to die', spending two-and-a-half months there as well as being hospitalised due to issues with her liver.
She hasn't used ketamine since April 2025 and is warning others to stay well away from the drug given the damage it did to her.
"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," she recounted of the long-term damage ketamine had done and the further treatment she would need.
"I'd been told I need two pipes into my kidneys to drain the fluid in my kidneys.
"I still get stabbing pains but it's a lot better than it was, I'll never go back to it. I would tell people to not even try it - it's too dangerous. There's not enough out there about what it can do.
"You never think it will happen to you."
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can talk to FRANK. You can call 0300 123 6600, text 82111 or contact through their website 24/7, or livechat from 2pm-6pm any day of the week
Joe Harker