Does Drugs/alcohol affect us Aspies differently to NT's

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Hi fellow Aspies

Have been wondering for a while now whether
alcohol affects us Aspies more than NT's?...

Also with drugs does it take alot more than a
NT to feel high and when we do does it take
longer for the affects of the drugs to wear off
us, hope all this don't sound too stupid!

Any feedback and comments would be great
and muchly appreciated!

Here's a tip
Don't take drugs
Don't drink alcohol
You'll screw up your brain chemistry and you won't be able to concentrate. You will lose all your special interests and passions in life, you'll get moodswings, you'll be depressed and feel like crap, and nothing will feel right anymore. DO. NOT. TAKE. DRUGS. Especially if you value having full mental capacity, because it will be immensely dampened.

And no, I'm not a socially conservative anti-drug moron. I'm extremely liberal and I support legalisation. However, just because I feel people should have the choice, it doesn't mean it's a good one.

Last edited by Psychocandy on 16 Jul 2012, 8:47 am, edited 2 times in total.

I wouldn't know because I've never got completely drunk before and I've never took drugs before.

It affects different people in different ways though, I don't think it has much to do with your neurology, maybe a little but not entirely.

Last edited by Joe90 on 16 Jul 2012, 8:38 am, edited 1 time in total.

As for alcohol IMHO there is nothing wrong with it unless you have abuse problems. Without a drink or two I can't handle social situations at all. A beer or two makes a big difference. My tolerance for alcohol is certainly below average for a man of my size (200 lbs or so) but I have no idea if that's related to my Asperger's or not. I am part Métis...

As for drugs I smoked pot as a teenager and it seemed to affect me the same as my friends. I haven't done it in years and have no plans to do so as the stuff available today is too potent. Stay away from drugs nothing good can come from them.

Drugs affect us differently.

Drugs and Alcohol can effect everyone differently...I am not sure if there is a specific difference in how they effect people with AS/autism vs. neurotypicals but maybe. I myself tend to have a somewhat high tolerance, or at least I develop it pretty quick so sometimes it takes me more than others.

To the anti-drug poster......some people develop problems like depression without drugs and use drugs because they are depressed. and some people who use drugs don't have any issues like that. Besides if all drugs do is make things worse why do doctors prescribe them?

Affect us differently? No. Stronger? Yes.

Caffeine is so much more than just a wake up, it's like switch from non-active to active. Alcohol acts a social switch, the more I turn on, the better I become at it. I do suppose I have weaker tolerance for drugs and drink, but in a way that's a good thing as it takes less drink, time and money to get me into that socialable NT mode

Unfortunately, I've never tried any drugs nor know anyone who does. If they manage to help me become more NT, I would give them a go.

Hmm... I never really thought about that before, but now that you mention it... I am one hell of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, which I always thought was REALLY weird because I'm not an actual lightweight at all. I'm 5'6'', and for at least as long as I've been able to drink, I've weighed about 250 pounds or more. Currently, I'm around 280. Yet, I can catch a pretty decent buzz off of those "girly drinks" like smirnoff twisted, mike's hard lemonade, etc. That stuff won't ever get me fully drunk, but I know people who could drink a case of those and feel nothing. It only takes me 2 or 3 beers to feel drunk. If we're talking liquor, I'll easily feel ONE shot of Jaegermeister in a couple minutes. Then again, I don't really drink all that often, so it might just be a tolerance issue.

But then there's pot... When I first started smoking it, it felt like a trip that would last up to 8 hours, or sometimes even longer. I don't really know of anyone else who's experienced this(the few people I know with aspergers either wouldn't try it or don't like it... And before you ask, no, I don't go around trying to convince aspies, or anyone else, for that matter, to try pot).

Drugs and Alcohol definitely don't make me more NT. If anything, they just make me a much less socially anxious aspie. Or they sorta make me forget to be shy around people I don't know well. I'll just say a bunch of nonsense and not give a rat's ass who hears me or what they think of me for saying ridiculous things. Sometimes I just say stupid things to see how people will react. Sometimes I simply don't care one way or another, and alcohol makes these two things much more common.

While we're on the subject of alcohol, what's everyone's favorite drink?

I love piña colada(even though i've never actually tried a real one with alcohol, just candy and other things flavored with it. I should really get on that...), Jägermeister, and Yukon Jack the best. Then there's all kinds of various schnapps(mmm, butterscotch) and flavored vodka(i hate vodka, but if it's flavored I'll mix it with something). And oh yeah, Tequila Rose(tequila that tastes like strawberries and creame... friggin' amazing).

I am definitely a lightweight when it comes to certain things. For example, I was comparing notes with a friend who had been put on Celexa for depression. He was given 3-4 times the dosage I was and I had severe enough side effects that I had to stop taking it. Then again, he's a raging alcoholic, so it may well be that he needed that much because of his own brain chemistry issues.

I really don't think there is a pattern relating to autism. I have an incredible tolerance for all chemicals, both recreational and medical. I can't reasonably get drunk on anything beer strength (anything barley based doesn't sit right in my stomach anyway). I still feel dentistry after novacaine (even a double shot once).

I don't drink/use drugs because I know there is that possibility of becoming addicted (there is a history of addiction in my family and I can become addicted to things easily, like collecting/playing M:TG) and because I tend to have negative side-effects to prescriptions (the few times I had to use them for respiratory issues). If prescriptions cause severe reactions, I can only imagine what heroin, LSD or cocaine would do.

As for the hypothesis that it takes more to get the same effect an NT would feel, perhaps that could be due to a lower number of specific receptors in the brain (I know this doesn't apply to all persons). That is the problem with me and pain medication - it doesn't work.

I may have to disagree with them having a stronger effect.....I mean it takes at least 600 mg of caffeine for me to really get any high from it, some people drink one cup of coffee and get all jittery and crazy. Though I know most people drink coffee and such just to help them be more alert and awake not to try and actually achieve a high off of it. But what ever, as for drinking I am convinced the less of that I do the better, I have been rarely drinking lately but I was hanging out with my dad and some of his friends for like 2 days and kinda over-did the beer drinking so I still feel like crap from that...its my own fault though I suppose.

Drugs and alcohol affect me stronger than most other people I know. I get drunk from ridiculously low amounts of alcohol and I get high off very low doses of weed or opiates. Even caffeine or theobromine (the stuff found in cocoa) get me moderately high when ingested in large doses (not as high as weed or opiates). As a result, drugs ended up as one of my special interests...

They don't make me more NT. In fact, I'd rather do drugs or get drunk on my own, while most NTs I know enjoy more to do so with friends or in various social contexts. I like being alone, so that I can focus better on what I'm feeling when in an altered state of consciousness. I guess it's due to the fact that I'm not wired the way an NT is.

Drugs can't make anyone more NT or more autistic. They just bring up whatever is inside of our minds. They can't give anyone something that is not already there. Bob Marley once said that weed "is revealing you to yourself". That goes for pretty much any drug, I guess. I do not think that doing drugs to become more NT is a good reason to use. And, generally, doing drugs as a coping mechanism is a bad idea. It is the most common path to addiction...

Drugs affect everyone differently - this goes for people with AS, autism, or NT people.

this...even in the nt population their brain chemistry is different from one to another...just as we are all different...,

takes me more then others to get effects from drugs or alcohol....however i think that they effect me the same as they do other people.

With the drugs I think it depends. A lot of us aspies already take medication, a lot of those are antidepressants. With a lot of antidepressants you can't feel the full effects of certain drugs and you run a higher risk of getting serotonin syndrome. The after-effects are usually worse as well not to mention people with depression or anxiety especially shouldn't be taking drugs.

As for the alcohol, again...a lot of aspies take medication that can intensify the effect of alcohol. Also I find that alcohol usually affects introverts more in general than extroverts because they become extremely outgoing at alcohol's full effect, especially the more introverted you are. I have an extroverted friend and I swear, you can't tell whether she's drunk or sober.