Ellie Wight was just 18 when she first tried ketamine at a friend's house.What began as a way to unwind at weekends quickly spiralled into a devastating addiction that cost her £35,000 - and left her incontinent by the age of 23.Now, she is warning others about the reality of using the so-called 'party drug' after being forced to undergo Botox injections in her bladder just to manage the damage caused by abusing the Class B substance.Ms Wight, a sales assistant from Aberdeenshire, says her use escalated rapidly after she stopped smoking cannabis, which she had used daily since the age of 16.'All of a sudden, people were doing it and it was cool. You get a thrill from doing something you shouldn't,' she said.'We would go to friends' houses and that's just what everyone was doing.'The more you bought, the better deal you got. Dealers would give you discounts if you were part of certain groups.'Before long, Ms Wight found herself spending all her wages on the drug. She estimates she spent around £35,000 over the course of her addiction, with a gram typically costing between £10 and £20. Ellie Wight, 23, a sales assistant from Aberdeenshire, is warning others about the reality of using the so-called 'party drug' Her experience comes amid a sharp rise in ketamine use among young people. The proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who report having taken the drug has climbed from 2.3 per cent in 2006-07 to 6.5 per cent in 2023-24.Ms Wight's turning point came when she was admitted to hospital with a kidney infection after months of what she believed were recurring urinary tract infections.Within months, she began suffering from ketamine urinary tract syndrome - commonly known as 'ketamine bladder'.'I was peeing blood quite a lot and passing mucus from my bladder,' she said.'You could feel it happening, and the pain was horrendous.'The condition causes scarring to the bladder, leaving it stiff and unable to stretch. In severe cases, it affects the entire urinary system, including the kidneys.Symptoms include extreme pain, frequent and urgent need to urinate, blood in the urine - and, in some cases, incontinence.'Sometimes I couldn't make it to the toilet in time because the pain was so bad and I physically couldn't hold it,' Ms Wight said.'Walking felt like shooting, stabbing pains. It's hard to explain just how intense it is.'In a cruel cycle, she says ketamine itself became the only thing that eased the pain. Ms Wight's turning point came when she was admitted to hospital with a kidney infection after months of what she believed were recurring urinary tract infections