Addiction Experts

with Adam Cox

Ketamine: honest help when it’s become a problem

Please read this first

Ketamine can seriously damage your bladder. If it hurts when you pee, you need to go urgently and often, or there’s blood in your pee, please see your GP soon and tell them about your ketamine use. Stopping can help, but FRANK says the damage can sometimes be serious enough to need surgery.

Mixing ketamine with alcohol, benzos or opioids is dangerous and can be fatal. Call 999 if someone has collapsed, can’t be woken or is struggling to breathe, and tell the crew what has been taken.

FRANK is confidential and open 24 hours on 0300 123 6600, or text 82111. If you’re feeling hopeless or thinking about ending your life, call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time.

Ketamine often starts as something for the weekend. Then the weekends get longer, a bag turns up on a Tuesday, and before long you’re using on your own to get through the evening. Some people only realise how far it’s gone when the stomach cramps start, or when they can’t get through a film without needing the toilet.

If that sounds familiar, you’re not the only one. In England and Wales, 0.8% of people aged 16 to 59 used ketamine in the last year, up from 0.5% ten years earlier, and 2.0% of 16 to 24 year olds (ONS, 2025). You won’t be judged here, and there’s good help available, much of it free.

Signs ketamine has become a problem

FRANK says there are no physical withdrawal symptoms with ketamine, which is why ketamine addiction is sometimes described as a psychological dependence. That can make it easy to tell yourself it’s under control. Signs to watch for include:

  • Needing more than you used to for the same effect
  • Carrying on even though you know about the health risks
  • Needing to pee often or urgently, or pain when you pee
  • Stomach pains, sometimes called K cramps
  • Using on your own, or on ordinary days, not just nights out
  • Money, work or relationships starting to suffer

Because ketamine numbs pain, FRANK also warns that you can injure yourself without knowing it, and that evidence of liver damage from regular, heavy use is emerging.

Where to get help in the UK

Where hypnotherapy fits

Hypnotherapy is not a treatment for ketamine addiction, and I don’t offer it as one. Your GP, especially if you have any bladder or stomach symptoms, and a drug service need to be part of your recovery.

Where I can help is alongside that care. Ketamine is often used to escape: from anxiety, from low mood, from a head that won’t switch off. Those feelings tend to come back louder when you stop. Our sessions can focus on calming that stress, sleeping better, rebuilding confidence and handling the routines and people that pull you back towards using. The work of staying away from it is still yours, but sessions can make that work feel lighter.

Before we work together I’ll ask whether you’re getting support from your GP or a drug service, and whether your bladder has been checked. If I think you need that support first, I’ll tell you honestly.

Things that can help day to day

  • Book the GP appointment now. If you’ve noticed any change in how often or how painfully you pee, don’t wait for it to get worse.
  • Cut the easy routes. Delete the dealer’s number and mute the group chats that revolve around using.
  • Plan for the hard times. Work out when you usually use, such as Friday after work or late on a Sunday, and put something else in that slot.
  • Tell one person. Someone who knows what you’re doing can check in on you, and you won’t be carrying it alone.
  • Look after your mood. If anxiety or low mood is driving the use, you can refer yourself to NHS Talking Therapies in England, or talk to your GP.

If ketamine sits alongside other drugs or drinking for you, my pages on cocaine and alcohol list more support.

Common questions

Is ketamine addictive?

Yes. FRANK says people who become addicted to ketamine keep taking it whether they’re aware of the health risks or not. Regular users can build up a tolerance, which can lead to them taking more to get the same effect.

Can ketamine bladder damage get better?

FRANK says stopping ketamine can help, but sometimes the damage is so serious that the bladder needs surgical repair or even removal. Nobody can tell you how your own bladder will recover without checking it, which is why it’s worth seeing your GP early.

How do I stop taking ketamine?

You don’t have to work it out alone. A local drug service can help you make a plan, and you can contact one yourself. Your GP can check your bladder and general health at the same time. Hypnotherapy can help alongside that with stress, sleep and the routines around using, but it doesn’t replace that support.

Is it confidential?

Yes. What you tell me stays between us. As with any therapist, the only exception is if I believed you or someone else were at serious risk of harm.

I’m worried about someone else’s ketamine use. What can I do?

Adfam and Addiction Family Support are there for the people around someone who uses drugs. If you’re worried about their health right now, especially after mixing ketamine with alcohol or other drugs, call 999. It’s not in your power to make them stop, but support is there for you as well.

Talk it through

If you’re already getting support and want help alongside it, book a £49 consultation call. We’ll talk about whether sessions would help with what you’re already doing. Sessions are one to one over Zoom, and you get a recording of the hypnosis afterwards. You can read more about working with me.

Book a consultation (£49)

Written by Adam Cox, clinical hypnotherapist. Sources: FRANK, ketamine; ONS, Drug misuse in England and Wales, year ending March 2025; NHS, drug addiction: getting help. Checked October 2026.