I had no idea ketamine was a problem with kids

@suburberphobe

Its quite an attractive drug to a young person because you can be off your head for an hour and then return to normal.

My husband was involved in a traumatic accident and was given ketamine at the scene. He remembers the paramedic saying don’t worry mate we’re gonna send you to space for an hour.

This. It was niche and then it started to become a thing circa 15 years ago.

I'm shocked that people are only just aware of it.

Unfortunately it’s huge with county lines

Thanks for this OP. I did know ket was popular for the young but didn’t realise quite how rife it is. My DCs are 21 and 18 and I have just had a chat with them both about it (have done so before but thought it was worth a reminder as I know some of the 21 year-old’s friends take it at parties and club nights.)

We went on to have quite a good chat about different types of drugs, their effects and risks. Both DCs have smoked cannabis/had edibles but I don’t see any evidence that either of them does it regularly. I was quite into drugs in my early 20s, but avoided E even though most of my friends did it most weekends. I think the Leah Betts photos scared me off it. I hadn’t heard of Ketamine then (late 90s/early 00s) so I don’t know if there was much of it about. Weed, Es and Coke were rife but not Ket.

Its horrific, my friend has recently lost her daughter to it who was early 20s. Another friend who is in their 30s is ruining their life on it, went into rehab but straight back on it. Its only a matter of time till something awful happens there too. Lovely people from lovely families.

Its ruining so many lives and it seems to be getting worse!

The bladder issues are horrendous. My friend works for a drug rehabilitation service and the effects are awful. It’s cheap but very very nasty.

Ketamine was a big party drug when I was younger, def spent a night here and there in a k hole.

I don't see how social media can be blamed I think teenagers did not engage their brain long before social media came along, as a parent I have always said if I mixed random chemicals and handed it to you to take would you? So why on earth would it be any different to some other random person doing it?

Oh yes it's a problem and has been for some time. Other names for it are K, Kerry, Special K, Kaye, kk, triple K and Bert

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Article
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Published: 10 May 2019
A survey for ketamine abuse and its relation to the lower urinary tract symptoms in Taiwan
Chiao-Ching Li, Sheng-Tang Wu, …En Meng Show authors
Scientific Reports volume 9, Article number: 7240 (2019) Cite this article

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Abstract
We aimed to explore the correlation between ketamine abuse and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and epidemiology of ketamine cystitis. Questionnaire records of ketamine abusers, such as sex, age, and details of using ketamine, including consumption method, amount, duration of ketamine use, and LUTS, were obtained from two private rehabilitation centers. We analyzed these factors and established a severity forecasting module. One hundred and six ketamine abusers completed the questionnaires. LUTS showed an onset time of 24.67 ± 26.36 months among ketamine abusers. Overactive bladder symptom score, international prostate symptom score-storage, interstitial cystitis symptom index, interstitial cystitis problem index, and visual analogue scale score were 5.25 ± 4.43, 5.95 ± 5.72, 10.96 ± 6.66, 9.73 ± 5.82, and 2.55 ± 3.18, respectively. All symptom scores were positively correlated with the duration of ketamine abuse. Ketamine snorting was significantly correlated with all symptom scores compared to smoking. Hydrodistention, intravesical hyaluronic acid instillation, intravesical injection with botulinum toxin, and hyperbaric-oxygen therapy showed better effect than oral treatment. Ketamine can induce severe storage symptoms, such as frequency or nocturia depending on the duration of abuse. Ketamine snorting may cause worse LUTS than smoking. Combining ketamine and other substances may exacerbate LUTS. Intravesical therapy may lead to better outcomes than oral treatment.

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Bladder
Urological manifestations
Introduction
Ketamine is a noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor complex antagonist and phencyclidine derivative, which was first synthesized in 1962 by Calvin Lee Stevens1 and first given to American soldiers during the Vietnam war under FDA approval in 19702. It is currently used for general anesthesia and pain management for chronic neuropathic or malignant diseases3.

Ketamine has become a popular recreational drug in nightclubs in Taiwan and other areas, such as Hong Kong and the UK, in the past 10 years4,5,6. Many adolescents use it because of its low price and easy usage. Long-term ketamine abuse may cause severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), which are very similar to those of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) including increased urinary frequency, urgency, nocturia, intractable dysuria, hematuria, and bladder pain. Since the first report of ketamine-associated urinary tract damage in Canada in 20077, the number of reported cases in recent years has been increasing. Although a study of LUTS in ketamine users reported a prevalence of 26.6% in non-treatment-seeking people8, epidemiological data in Taiwan are still lacking.

The treatment for ketamine-associated LUTS is challenging and it resembles that for interstitial cystitis. According to guidelines of the American Urological Association9,10, there are six-line options for interstitial cystitis. However, the most important step in the management of ketamine-associated LUTS, which differs from interstitial cystitis, is the discontinuation of ketamine use.

We conducted an in-depth epidemiological study to better understand the correlation between ketamine abuse and LUTS in Taiwan. We hypothesized that various ketamine consumption parameters would be associated with LUTS.

Results
Ninety-five men and 11 women (24.87 ± 6.44 years old) submitted the questionnaires. The average age of starting ketamine use in this study was 16.68 ± 3.35 years. The duration of ketamine use was 75.45 ± 43.9 months, and cessation interval was 12.79 ± 13.47 months. Eighty-nine (84%) ketamine users developed LUTS after using ketamine for 24.67 ± 26.36 months. Ketamine use methods were snorting (34%), smoking (33%), and both (33%). Ninety-one (92.9%) subjects used ketamine more than once daily. Most of the abusers used no more than 10 gm per day (Table 1). Approximately 80% of ketamine abusers admitted of having a history of polysubstance abuse, although none of them used drugs other than ketamine regularly. There were different combination substances, such as amphetamine, marijuana, morphine, heroin, codeine, flunitrazepam, and ecstasy. Ecstasy was most frequently combined with ketamine (90.5%). Urinary frequency (66, 67.3%), incomplete bladder emptying (65, 67%), and nocturia (60, 61.9%) were the three most common symptoms caused by long-term ketamine use. In addition, the most bothersome symptoms were urinary frequency (55, 56.7%), nocturia (28, 29.3%), and urinary urgency (34, 35.1%).

Heard of special k probably late 80s.
Nah horsey tranquilliser never appealed .it's disturbing youngsters take it so readily.

I've mainly heard of it in relation to ravers and gay guys who practise chemsex. I had no idea it was trendy among young teens. Absolutely grim.

I knew some of her friends afterwards. They still unashamedly drank water.

I won't type what I want to say to you.

I'm Indian so I have to admit it's not really been a thing for us to go drugs, take pills etc.

Some of the naive attitudes on this thread are making my blood boil.

thankfully, unlike @amylou8 i didn’t lose my child. But he’ll be on medication for the rest of his life,

I have friends whose 22 yr olds wear nappies.

remembering having to go in and check him every 2 hours to check he was still breathing will always stay with me.

That's a brutal outcome for chasing a good time.
I'm an ex user of amphetamine 20 years
I know only to well that drugs ain't all fun and games.
Kids need better education on this as the outcome for long term use and damage is serious.

Why do you keep talking about whether you’ve ever taken drugs or not? We get it, you haven’t. Me neither. It’s not relevant to this thread though.

Not sure how the voting is set up but I voted YABU because it's everywhere at the minute so I am surprised you didn't know.

I regularly share horror stories about Ketamine in the family group chat. I don't make a fuss about any other drugs either, just to draw attention to how serious I am about this particular one. I am terrified by how easily available it seems to be and how popular it is.