Health - Ketamine and Urinary Tract Health

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SWIM has been insufflating k on and off for 3 or 4 years. He recently found a good source and was doing up to 100mg daily for over a week. He began to experience very mild lower abdominal (bladder) pain, and some slight irritation while urinating. This prompted him to stop his daily use.

SWIM is a daily drinker (when not using K). He prefers smaller, 'sub k-hole' doses of k.

At first SWIM thought the bladder irritation maybe caused by impurities in the current batch but has recently read articles suggesting otherwise.

PHYSICAL SIDE EFFECTS OF KETAMINE ABUSE

Many users are complaining of suffering with cystitis, pain and incontinence; some users are having catheters inserted to help with urinary problems; while others are having their bladders completely removed or rebuilt from the damage caused by Ketamine.

HOW DOES KETAMINE CAUSE DAMAGE?

Ketamine is highly toxic to the body (whether pure or cut).
The toxic fluid passes from the kidneys to the bladder, where it strips the cells that line the bladder wall away, causing bleeding (which you may see in your pee). As the bladder wall heals, the scar tissue hardens and stops the bladder from stretching, causing pain and an increased need to pee.

The function of the bladder is to stretch and expand as it fills with urine. Due to this hardened scar tissue, there is a loss of elasticity and tiny rips occur in the bladder wall as it tries to stretch. As these rips heal, further scar tissue makes the walls harder and thicker, the bladder becomes smaller and less able to stretch; causing frequent need to pee, a loss of sphincter control (leaking urine), cystitis and pain.

As the bladder shrinks, it can no longer hold as much urine as it should, so urine is backed up into the urinary tract, which also becomes hard, and damage is caused to the kidney as the toxic fluid sits at the exit of the kidneys.

Eventually, a catheter may need to be inserted to hold the urine that the shrunken bladder can no longer hold. At this stage, some patients are having their bladders rebuilt and in extreme cases, completely removed. Catheters may be inserted at the bladder or the kidney, depending on where the damage is.

It is feared amongst urologists (bladder and kidney specialists) that prolonged ketamine abuse could lead to kidney failure - hypothetically, dialysis would be one way to manage this end stage. A dialysis machine is for life.

To date, urologists are unsure why the toxins in Ketamine have these effects. On stopping taking ketamine, some users are showing signs of improvement, some are staying the same and some continue to get worse. Again, urologists do not yet know why this is.

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GENERAL ADVICE

STOP taking ketamine, ask your GP for alternative painkillers, drink LOTS of water and apple cider vinegar in warm water (with honey to taste) to flush out toxins, eat a healthy diet, sleep lots to restore the body. MSM may help to rejuvenate and soften the damaged cells.

Some users recommend to drink a teaspoon of bi-carbonate of soda in a glass of water to ease ketamine cramps, which it is believed are caused by swallowing ketamine and the resulting acid rising up from the stomach.

Questions:
How could the small, insufflated doses that SWIM is taking cause urinary tract irritation when others inject much larger quantities more frequently without experiencing these symptoms?