By Conaill Corner,Lois McCarthy,Wesley Holmes

Copyright walesonline

Beth Ashton, a vibrant 25-year-old known for her sharp humour and selfless spirit, tragically lost her life following a silent battle with ketamine addiction – a fight that began after the devastating stillbirth of her baby boy in 2019. The Skelmersdale local, kept her addiction hidden from those closest to her. By the time Beth’s family discovered the extent of her struggle, the damage had already taken hold. On the morning of 9 November 2024, Beth’s father found her unresponsive at home. Her mother, Natalie Ashton, heartbreakingly shared: “Her little body just gave out.” The trauma that sparked Beth’s descent began with complications from preeclampsia. Natalie recalled the moment that changed everything: “When we went to the hospital, her son had already passed, already gone, and she had to give birth to him. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here “Because it was Easter there was nowhere for him to go, so we had him for five days in the cold cot. He deteriorated very quickly and that was very, very traumatic for everyone, especially for Beth.” Natalie expressed her astonishment when her daughter seemed to bounce back remarkably quickly around six to eight months after the death of her son, whom she named Roman. Unbeknownst to her, Beth’s apparent uplifted spirits were an indication of something much more ominous, reports the Liverpool Echo . She explained: “Ketamine makes you feel good, it stops anxiety, it stops depression. But it’s killing your insides. You can be asymptomatic for a long time without realising. “I thought she was coping brilliantly. I was in awe of how well she was dealing with such traumatic events. But looking back, that would make sense if she was using.” Initially, the warning signs of Beth’s ketamine dependency were easily overlooked, as she concealed her weight loss beneath loose-fitting clothing. However, she experienced her first pain episode in 2020 – and from that point onwards, her condition rapidly declined. She attended numerous medical consultations presenting symptoms of severe cystitis, a urinary tract infection which triggers frequent urination and a burning, stinging sensation during toilet visits. Medical professionals believed Beth was experiencing kidney damage as a result of the preeclampsia she had been diagnosed with in 2019. In reality, she was displaying symptoms of a rarely recognised condition known as “ketamine bladder syndrome”, an excruciating condition triggered by large, repeated doses of ketamine. Natalie explained: “Her bladder shrunk to the point it could only hold 30ml, the size of a shot glass. She had started passing jelly tissue in her urine, which was the lining of the bladder. She couldn’t eat by this point. And when you have these extreme pains, the only thing that can take away the pain is more ketamine. “Beth was prescribed morphine and it did nothing. She would be lying on the floor, crippled, for hours. “Because Beth was an adult, sometimes a few months would go by without us seeing each other. When I saw her she looked incredibly thin, with bones poking out. It was a shock for me and I thought she might have an eating disorder.” The root of Beth’s health issues was only uncovered in September last year, when she was admitted to Southport Hospital. Natalie said: “When I went to visit her, she looked like she’d just come out of a concentration camp. There was next to nothing on her. I just burst into tears.” Beth, who worked in a pharmacy, was discharged from Southport Hospital three days later and referred to the Inspire Drug and Alcohol Service. She chose to temporarily return to live with her mum whilst she planned to overcome her addiction. However, Natalie said: “She was still using because that was the only thing that could take away the severe pain, and she was already so far gone by this point. She was journaling her plans to get clean. But the help just didn’t come in time. “The pain was excruciating. She had to wee every 15 minutes and every 15 minutes she was in severe agony, crippled, screaming.” Tragically, Beth passed away on November 9 last year, just two months after being discharged from hospital. Natalie said: “Her dad went to check on her in the morning and she was cold. He knew as soon as he saw her. “My baby was in agony and her little body just gave out. The damage that had been done was too much. She weighed less that my little boy at this point. She was under five stone. It literally sucked the life out of her. She was deteriorating every time I saw her, until there was nothing left.” In the aftermath of her daughter’s death, the mother-of-three established the West Lancs Ketamine Awareness and Support Facebook page to help families grappling with ketamine addiction. She explained: “I feel like I need to turn this pain into something positive, and if I can help just one family, just one person, Beth’s death isn’t in vain. “This time last year I knew nothing about this drug, but since her passing I’m seeing so many more stories similar to Beth’s. Unknown to me, there’s been people in Skelmersdale who are going through it with their kids, who are 15 and 16, and it set a fire in my belly because kids that young don’t know the risks. Beth was 25 and she didn’t know the risks. “Beth was my best friend. She was so funny, she was so selfless, she was always there for others, always had a sensible head and gave the best advice. “She was on top of the world, all these plans, all these goals. She wanted to make a fresh start in Australia. Everything just happened so fast. That’s something a lot of parents won’t be prepared for – how quickly your child can deteriorate. “I want people to know the real risks. People don’t know the risks because it doesn’t smell, you don’t get the munchies, you’ve got less chance of getting caught because there’s no odour. You can be in a ket-hole with your mates and because of how quickly it wears off, you can walk into the house a few hours later like nothing’s happened. “You don’t realise it’s already causing damage. You don’t know until its too late. If you do take it, there’s a chance this will happen to your body. “It does have an allure as a party drug, that’s why it’s so dangerous. And it’s so available, you can get it for pocket money prices. You only need a small amount to begin with. But no one can keep an addiction under control – that’s why it’s an addiction. Everything seems manageable until its not. That’s what happened to Beth. At the end she was spending £60 a day on it. I had no idea.”