A 22-year-old recalled how her addiction to ketamine resulted in a number of health problems, claiming that just one use could set you down a dark path.
Erin Martin, from Kent, claimed that she spent an eye-watering £10,000 on ketamine in the space of six months just a couple of years after trying it for the first time, aged 18.
She was offered the drug at a rave and said that she kept taking it as it lowered her anxiety levels.
The Brit recalled taking seven grams of the class B drug per day, taking a dose every 30 minutes, which set her back around £70 per day.
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Erin said she would forgo buying food in favour of affording ketamine, and that attempts to put an end to the addiction ended in vein within days.
In what is another cautionary tale about the drug, Erin said that she would need to use the toilet every 30 minutes while she was addicted, even urinating 'flesh' at times.
Erin ended up in hospital with a gallbladder infection which was excruciatingly painful.
Reflecting on her journey, Erin said that she felt 'safe and away with the fairies' when she tried it for the first time, eventually struggling to 'go into town to do errands without it'.
"I was in agony every time I went for a wee, and started peeing out chunks of flesh the size of a 50p coin," she recalled, adding: "I ended up in hospital and doctors told me if I carried on, I’d die, and I just accepted that."
She didn't understand the pain it was causing her loved ones, but now she claims: "I’ve now come to a point where I’ve realised it doesn’t help anything, and I see it as disgusting.
"For the first time in my life, I feel like the stronger side is winning."
Erin further claimed: "It only takes one use get you hooked and leave you powerless to addiction, so it's best to prevent the first use."
She said that the drug's dissociative properties helped her to feel calm and pointed out that 'no-one really knew it wasn’t normal, because it’s cheap and young kids can get it'.
After building a tolerance, people only noticed a difference when she took large amounts at once.
When an ex-partner told her to stop, she said that she continued taking it as she believed it helped her mental health.
Soon, she lost friends as they didn't want to go out with her due to her spending most of the night in the toilet either doing ketamine or going for a wee.
When the drug is metabolised, its products are excreted in the kidneys and stored in the bladder, causing pain and increased urinary frequency.
This can escalate to a reduced bladder capacity and blood in the urine, as Erin explained: “Weeing was so painful, I couldn’t sleep because I was constantly getting woken up by the pain.”
When she was in hospital with a gallbladder infection for 10 days, she said: “It was squashing my stomach so I couldn't eat or drink anything, the cramps it caused were the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life.
“I was on morphine, but it wasn’t affecting me, I was just asking to die.”
But Erin kept taking the drug, with it taking until October 2025 when she had an 'internal snap', saying that she started to believe in a 'God like presence', which has helped her stay clear of the drug.
Now, she has distanced herself from ketamine and anyone who takes it, and attends regular meetings to help with her past addiction.
“My mum now feels like she’s got her daughter back, and I’m going to make amends to all my friends and family members, because now I can be present”, Erin admitted.
She often takes to TikTok on her account @erin_y2k, where she spreads word of her awakening and her sobriety, which is going strong after 50 days so far.
Topics: Drugs, Mental Health, Health, UK News
Joshua Nair