Insight
Hidden dangers of ketamine use: Sober warning from young man from Lancashire
Granada Reports journalist Emma Sweeney went along to meet Tom.
A man who took ketamine for almost 10 years has spoken out about the hidden dangers of the so-called "party drug" in a bid to prevent other people from becoming hooked.
Tom Ryde, 24, was just 15 when he initially started using the class B drug at the weekends, but over time he gradually became addicted and would go to extreme lengths to get his hands on it.
"I'd be stealing things from shops, selling clothes, spending my wages on it before I've even had my wages," Tom, from Cliteroe, Lancashire, said.
"So when I got paid, I'd be using that wage to pay off debts to dealers, and then getting into debt with them again.
"It was just a constant cycle every week."
Tom says it was a cycle which left him trapped in more ways than one as, the minute he would stop taking ketamine, he says he was left with excruciating symptoms and "couldn't even lie down".
Tom added: "I'd have to sleep with hot water bottles, have baths.
"I'd be up every 10-15 minutes, going to and from the toilet, sometimes I didn't even make it to the toilet."
Tom said he was also left with blood clots and when he went to the toilet, "it was like weeing razor blades and needles".
Danielle Robinson, the director and owner of Acquiesce Rehab in Manchester, says ketamine is becoming the drug of choice for more young people because it's "cheap", with the type of symptoms described by Tom very common among addicts.
"Because ketamine in its consistency is grainy, when it passes through the system, the system really struggles to break it down," she said.
"And it causes lots of damage and detriment to particularly the stomach, the urinary tract, the kidney, the bladder."
There has been a sharp rise in the number of people developing severe bladder issues and requiring risky operations due to ketamine addiction.
Latest Government figures show there are around 3,609 adults, like Tom, starting treatment for ketamine, a figure more than eight times higher than in 2014 to 2015 - at just 426.
More children and young people are also now reporting problems with ketamine than cocaine for the first time.
Tom says he owes his life to his previous employer who, six months ago, helped him to get support after revealing he had an issue.
His boss introduced him to Elisha House in Colne, Lancashire - a recovery community that offers residents mental health support, counselling, fitness classes and job opportunities.
Most crucially, he added, the wrap around support is based on providing a sense of hope.
Carl Molyneux, the project manager, says there are daily groups on offer for the residents on the recovery programme.
He said: "The guys that come to us, they will do some real in depth work that takes a lot of courage.
"It's not easy coming to a place like Elisha House but if you get involved in a recovery community, then there is a way out, and you can turn your life around."
What is Ketamine?
Ketamine is synthetic drug used in the medical and veterinary practice and is generally administered as an anaesthetic or painkiller.
It is described as a 'dissociative anaesthetic' as it makes the person who consumes it detach from their pain and the environment.
The Class B drug has increased in popularity amongst young people and teenagers and has been described as a "party drug".
Chronic Ketamine use can have adverse side effects including, unconsciousness, cognitive problems including amnesia and difficulty passing urine.
Ketamine is broken down by the body and eliminated through urine and the toxic chemicals from the drug can affect bladders, leading to difficulties holding urine or even causing people to urinate blood.
Inflammation of the bladder can also lead to irreversible scarring, that - if people continue to take ketamine - will leave them without any bladder function at all, and potentially having to use a stoma bag.
Tom, who is now well and truly on a path to recovery, works at the Elisha House cafe one day a week as part of his programme. He says the job has helped him to improve his "people skills and self worth".
His mother, Denise Ryde, says he is a far cry from the young man who first walked into the centre six-months-ago, when his weight had fallen to just eight stone and, she says, she was at her wits' end.
"I was going in his room, checking him to see if he was alive, see if he was in, see if he was okay, see if he was dead," Ms Ryde said.
"I just didn't know what I was going to find," she added. "The transformation and the change in him, in him now, is unbelievable."
As Tom continues to progress with his recovery programme, he is now urging others to "reach out to somebody as quickly as possible, before it gets too late".
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