Emma Mack started at 19 but within four years she was using it every day
17:34, 07 Feb 2026Updated 17:43, 07 Feb 2026
Emma Mack started using the class-B drug aged 19 while partying in Ibiza and at raves with her pals because it’s ‘what everyone did’ but within four years she was using it every day.(Image: Kennedy News/emmamackdj )
A dental nurse claims she blew enough cash to buy ‘ten Mercedes’ on an addiction that left her using the bathroom every five minutes to ‘pee jelly’. Emma Mack started using the class-B drug aged 19 while partying in Ibiza and at raves with her pals because it’s ‘what everyone did’ – and she says even 13 year olds take it.
But within four years she was using it every day. Her 10-year addiction eventually saw her bladder shredded and so badly damaged it was only able to hold four tablespoons of urine. After the 28-year-old began peeing ‘painful’ blood and jelly clots, she visited the doctors and was booked in for a bladder stretch in April 2024.
Despite being admitted into rehab in September 2024, she relapsed just six days later and her bladder shrunk so much she had to visit the bathroom every five to ten minutes. Emma says she is ‘ashamed’ to have even been forced to urinate on her own clothing during a flight with her boss after she was told she couldn’t use the bathroom.
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.
Her ketamine usage was so out of control that she had to quit her job as a dental nurse in January this year. Emma shared footage to TikTok of her ‘shrunk and inflamed’ bladder captioned ‘take ketamine they said, it’ll be fun they said’.
The footage shows a hospital scan of her bladder in hospital, which looks extremely red and inflamed. In another clip you can see a devastated-looking Emma crying as she says ‘it’s ruined my life’.
The dental nurse claims she blew enough cash to buy ‘ten Mercedes’ on her ketamine addiction(Image: Kennedy News/emmamackdj )
At the height of her addiction she was sniffing between 3.5 to seven grams a day and was forking out all her wages from being a dental nurse on the drug. 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’ and has now been clean for four months.
Believing she ‘would’ve been dead’ or needing a catheter if she’d continued using the drug she warns people to stay away from it. Emma, who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland, 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.”
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. Emma said: “It was a cycle because of the bladder pain. I ended up having UTI symptoms and then I started peeing blood and then I started peeing these sorts of jelly.
“They were really sore to pass and then I’d pass the blood clots. I’m still passing these blood clots after four months clean. It’s horrible. If I was going anywhere I wouldn’t drink anything, which would make it worse. If I was using ket I could go and do stuff. If I didn’t have ket I would be in my house.
“I actually went on an airplane with my boss and sat on the plane and went to the woman ‘I need to go to the toilet’ and she said ‘you can’t’. I had to actually just pee on the plane. I had a body warmer, which was lucky and luckily I had a change of trousers in my bag.
“It’s an embarrassing thing to have to stop and pee everywhere and plan my routes around the toilet. I was really ashamed but at the same time the ket meant I didn’t really care. Now I feel shameful.
“It did affect my work and everyone around me but I was in such denial. I worked in the surgery for four hours at a time so it was painful holding pees and running to the toilet. I was using it before and after my shifts. During the middle of the day I felt I needed something to take that pain away.”
Emma got an appointment for a bladder stretch in April 2024 as she could only hold 200ml of urine – but it soon shrank further. After attending rehab in September 2024 and relapsing just six days later she was forced to have a bladder stretch and botox in January 2025 as she could only hold 75ml of urine.
Emma said: “I went for the bladder stretching and my usage was still extremely bad at that point and two months after that I went into a depression and went back to work and stuff. I went really downhill and I had to admit to [work] ‘I have to go to rehab’. But I used it afterwards and I had to say to them ‘sorry, I can’t come back to work and I’m not safe’.
“If I did go back to work I’d end up losing my licence or even worse, I could’ve done something that would affect their business which I would never have wanted. I remember going to the hospital and giving them a [urine] sample and drank as much water as I could but [75ml] was as much as I could pee.
“I literally had to sit in the hospital toilet for an hour and a half because it was just coming straight through me. In June I got the botox done again before I went into my third rehab. That was painful because my bladder was so inflamed.
“The doctors put my bladder on the screen and said ‘your bladder is so inflamed, you need to stop using’. I said ‘I know, I’m trying’ but I was just lost. I’m so lucky that I still have my bladder today because I have seen a few people that haven’t got a bladder and have catheters.”
Emma is currently in a recovery house and must go for a bladder review every six months to see if she needs more botox. Now she warns others to ‘avoid’ using the drug while encouraging addicts that ‘you can always change your life around’.
Emma 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.”
