'I snorted 100 lines of ketamine a day as a teen... now my bladder is being removed': How party drugs ruined one young girl's life
- Danielle Watson, 23, from Nottingham, didn't realise drugs were dangerous
- Fell in with wrong crowd after leaving home aged 16
- Now carries catheter in handbag, and will this month have bladder removed
- Makeshift bladder to be fashioned out of part of her bowel
- She will urinate through a hole next to her belly button
A 23-year-old woman who binged on party drugs including ketamine and 'meow meow' during her teenage years - at one point snorting as many as 100 lines a day - has spoken out about how the substances left her body in tatters, and revealed she will now be having her bladder removed as a result of the damage inflicted upon it.
Danielle Watson, now clean, says she 'loved' taking horse tranquiliser ketamine and mephedrone, commonly known as 'meow meow', at parties, and quickly fell into a pattern of taking 5g - 50 lines - of each drug every day. Both substances cost £10 per gram.
Speaking to Closer magazine in the wake of a report revealing deaths by party drugs have quadrupled over the last five years, the young administrator from Nottingham - whose mother is a horse trainer and father a bus driver - said she 'fell in with the wrong crowd' after leaving home to live in a hostel aged 16.
Danielle Watson was taking 100 lines of ketamine and miow miow during her lowest point, and as a result she is now having her ruined bladder removed entirely
Danielle says she was a rebellious teenager but didn't realise the drugs were as dangerous as Class A substances such as cocaine and heroin - which she says she would never take - because mephedrone was still legal, and ketamine had been banned only the previous year.
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When a friend offered her the party drugs she was told they were harmless. But soon her habit spiraled out of control, and eventually Danielle began finding blood in her urine.
Danielle and friends at one of the parties where they regularly did hundreds of pounds of party drugs
Despite taking the drugs during the day, Danielle still managed to complete her Health and Social Care college course and work full-time at a call centre.
But after collapsing at a party she was admitted to hospital where doctors revealed her bladder was so badly damaged - infected and covered with ulcers and scars - that she was going to have to have a catheter fitted.
She was forced to carry it around in her handbag, being able to drink only half a can of Coke before having to empty her bladder.
Deaths by party drugs such as ketamine and mephedrone have quadrupled in the last five years
She said: 'Other girls have to pack their lipstick- but I have to carry a catheter in my handbag. I'm a totally different person now - my confidence has gone.
Read more in this month's Closer, out now
'I feel so unattractive. I haven't been intimate with anyone, let alone admitted the truth to a man.'
Recently, tests revealed that the damage has worsened.
And later this month Danielle will be having her bladder completely removed and a new one fashioned out of part of her bowel.
She will 'urinate' through a hole next to her belly button.
She is horrified at the damage she has done to herself, and cannot believe that the drugs she was taking recreationally were ever legal to begin with.
She said: 'I'm so ashamed, but I want people to know about my condition because they need to realise how dangerous these drugs are.
'I didn't take the risks seriously because meow meow was legal back then and ketamine had only recently been made illegal. I loved the highs.
'I don't know if I will find a boyfriend or have a family - I can't bring myself to get intimate with a man. I feel ashamed and dirty.'
Elliot Elam, spokesperson for drugs charity Addaction, said: 'Young people don't realise how dangerous party drugs can be - the health risks must not be underestimated.'
For help surrounding substance abuse issues visit www.addaction.org.uk or www.talktofrank.com
Read more in Closer, out now, or online at Closeronline.co.uk
WHAT IS KETAMINE?
It’s a powerful general anaesthetic that’s used for operations on humans and animals. The effects don’t last long, but until they wear off, ketamine can cause a loss of feelings in the body and paralysis of the muscles. It can also lead to users experiencing a distortion of reality.
Ketamine, a Class C drug, can:
- Reduce sensations in the body, giving users a floating feeling as if the mind and body have been separated.
- Make some people physically incapable of moving while under the influence. Other users may feel completely detached from their body and surroundings. This has been likened to having a near-death experience and is sometimes called 'entering the k-hole'.
- Like LSD, cause changes to how people see and hear things, and hallucinations. Users can ‘trip’ for up to an hour, and after-effects may be felt for some hours.
- Cause confusion, panic attacks, and depression, plus when taken in large doses it can make existing mental health problems even worse.
- It has only recently been discovered that ketamine can cause very serious bladder problems with severe pain and difficulty passing urine, and can even result in surgical removal of the bladder.
- Because you don't feel pain properly when you're on ketamine, you can injure yourself badly and not know you've done it.
- High doses, especially when taken with other substances like alcohol, benzodizepines or opiates, can dangerously affect the way you breathe and how your heart works, and can lead to unconsciousness, which can be even more dangerous if vomit is inhaled. If high doses are taken, it can cause death. And it is certainly not safe to mix alcohol and ketamine.
- Ketamine can also be very dangerous when mixed with ecstasy or amphetamines, when it can cause high blood pressure.
- Abdominal pain or ‘K cramps’ have been reported by many long-term users.
- Injecting ketamine can damage the veins and can cause serious problems such as abscesses (swollen areas of tissue that are full of pus) and blood clots. Sharing injecting equipment, including needles and syringes, risks infection with hepatitis C and B viruses and HIV.
- Ketamine is a Class C drug which means that it's illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell.
- Possession can get you up to two years in prison and/or an unlimited fine.
- Supplying someone else, even your friends, can get you 14 years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
WHAT IS MIOW MIOW?
Mephedrone (often called ‘meow meow’) is a powerful stimulant and is part of the cathinone family, a group of drugs that are closely related to the amphetamines - including amphetamine itself (often called ‘speed’), methamphetamine and ecstasy.
There is very little evidence about mephedrone and what long-term effects it has, but there have reports of people hospitalised due to the short-term effects.
Also, you can never be entirely sure that what you’re buying is actually mephedrone and not something else.
The main effects and risks of mephedrone, a Class B drug, include:
- Euphoria, alertness and feelings of affection towards the people around you.
- Feelings of anxiety and paranoia.
- Mephedrone, or meow meow, can also overstimulate your heart and circulation; and can overstimulate your nervous system, with risk of fits.
- Users have reported blue or cold fingers – this is probably because mephedrone affects the heart and the circulation.
- Some users have also had severe nosebleeds after snorting mephedrone.
- There were six deaths involving mephedrone reported in 2011 in England and Wales.
- Overheating has been a significant cause of deaths when other amphetamine-type drugs, such as ecstasy, have been used along with mephedrone.
- Injecting mephedrone, and sharing injecting equipment including needles and syringes, runs the risk of the person injecting catching or spreading a virus, such as HIV or hepatitis C.
- Mephedrone is a Class B drug – so it’s illegal to have for yourself, give away or sell.
- Possession is illegal and can get you up to five years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
- Supplying someone else, even your friends, can get you fourteen years in jail and/or an unlimited fine.
Extracted from www.talktofrank.com
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