Aspergers / ASD and alcohol

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Hi there.

Is it usual for people with Asperger's or on the ASD spectrum to be more sensitive to alcohol? To get drunk faster on less.

Also to not build up much tolerance over the years? I'm 41 and have drunk a lot in the past but still t this day get drunk off one or two pints.

Hangovers. Yuck. Is it normal for the hangover to be more pronounced and be somewhat like a bad trip experience, and lasting quite a while?

I find as I'm older I want to drink less and less as I can't be hassled with the emotional roller coaster.

I found when I used to drink quite often compared to most nt folk I would get drunk or a bit merry after maybe 3 or 4 pints but after much more than that most folks would be acting loud rowdy ect where as I would sort of just be slightly merry never really losing contro l, however I would die the next few days go into depression and just feel wasted .Because of this I have pretty much given up drinking since hiting fourty ,if i have more than 2 pints now it will effect me the next day increase anxiety effect mood ect even though I didn't feel at all drunk after drinking .Years ago I would drink feel crap and just do it all again the next time, seems crazy thinking about it now but i think it almost turned into part of my aspie routine even despite the suffering it became the norm.Now i'll have the occasional 1 can of bitter only 3% and enjoy that but I just don't want to get drunk anymore not worth the horrible mental effects.

It's an interesting question but I can't answer because I'm not Dx.

In my prime I could easily put away 10+ pints in a night but it only ever took 2 pints to get me really drunk.
I didn't build up a tolerance to getting drunk on 2 pints , the only tolerance I built up was how many pints I could drink before I couldn't walk.

Edit: I'm an angry drunk so I gave up drinking 15 years ago ( maybe the odd drink on a special occasion )
I didn't know this but my GF just told me that I had to drink quite a bit before I appeared drunk so maybe I hid it well.

Used to drink alot on the weekends when i played rugby when younger. It was kind of expected, even financially fined if caught drinking anything other when on tour. However i rarely drink at all now, even the thought gives me the feeling of a hangover. Speaking of which, for me it took over a week sometimes two to recover from a night out. Dont like the taste of alcohol at all. Every now and then i will get a bottle of wine, have one sip, tastes like vinegar and just use the rest for cooking or tell the flatmates to drink it.. Only really drank for the effect, it did help just a little in that area as sensory speaking it would close my bubble in closer so not having to absorb every little thing around me.. I was still very self aware though where it seems most people lose their self awareness when a little tipsy.
The only drink i kind of like is a shandy.. about an inch of beer topped up with lemonade... At Christmas the family would be drinking champagne and wine and i would be quit content with my pint of milk , lol

Doesn't all wine taste like vinegar?

seems to and especially if the bottle has been left open for a week or two, lol..
I still have a cask of wine downstairs ( about a year old). Did try to drink some a few weeks back but tasted blooming horrible.. Often used to make mulled wine out of it when i occasionally went round to pot luck dinners. Seemed to go within half an hour.

I'm an alcoholic. I haven't had a drink in over a week since I've been broke, and I've also been taking topiramate to reduce my cravings. That said, I plan on buying booze the next time I have money.

I pass out easily when I drink, but getting that good drunken feeling is actually quite difficult for me. I have to consume a lot of alcohol in a short period of time, typically by doing shots, guzzling a strong mixed drink (I make mine with more liquor than mixer sometimes), or shotgunning beers.

Some of my friends tell me I shouldn't drink so much, but they don't get it. They're not addicted like I am. I love it and I hate it. My addiction is really psychological though because physically, I feel much better without alcohol, except when I'm hungover. When I'm hungover I drink more to get rid of it, then I begin the cycle again until it stops.

As crazy as it sounds, I've romanticized things like addiction, mental illness, depression, and negativity. I feel like being a depressed drunk "fits" me. I revel in dark and negative things. Maybe my purpose in life is to be a cautionary tale to others, I don't know.

You sound just like I did when I was your age

Take it from someone that knows , don't be a cautionary tale dude , no-one listens to advice from messed up individuals , you are more likely to be listened to if you are a reformed character.

Don't do it dude. Don't sink back down to that level. If you've been off it for a week, most of the worst immediate physical reactions (if you're going to get them) will be done by now. You're ahead. Don't wreck a good thing.

I was the same. With time if you're sober, you get used to it. You'll be disgusted by how much healthier you feel, and what you were wiling to live with drinking.
I'm an alcoholic, haven't had a drink in almost two years. And I was the direct opposite. I'm drug resistant, so it took a metric tonne of straight spirits to do anything whatsoever to me. I was the same as mr_bigmouth - I had to mainline shots of straight spirits over 40% proof in a very short period of time in order for it to have any effect. At 12 shots I often felt nothing. It's the same with any drug. Anesthetists even had this whole atypical monitoring thing with me during surgery, because I could wake up with enough drugs in me to put down a rhino.

Now I want to do it even more. Thanks.


You're right, I am disgusted with how healthy I feel. Feeling healthy doesn't feel "right" to me. Well, I should clarify; physically I feel healthier than usual. Mentally, well, it's weird, it's almost like my brain and my body don't match. I do feel mentally healthier than usual, but not as mentally healthy as I could be. If I were mentally healthy enough to match my body, that would be great. Booze makes me feel physically and mentally unhealthy enough that it feels "right".


I dunno. I kinda like being a misfit and helping other misfits out. I envy people who have good lives and have their s**t together, but at the same time, I despise them. I feel like people who are successful in life, they don't get it. They don't get the struggles people like me go through. Well, OK, I guess you could say Kurt Cobain and Chester Bennington were successful because they became superstars, but they both ended up succumbing to their inner demons and killing themselves. It's sad, because they were talented individuals, but they were also tortured souls. That's how it often happens though, the best things often come from the most pain stricken artists.

Darn.

I rather meant that for me, when I finally sobered up and realized what feeling healthy was actually like again, I was disgusted with the sort of standard I'd been willing to put up with when I was drinking. Feeling like shite had just become normal and that's never good. You're all back to front. There really is nothing romantic in being an emo drunk, you know. The tortured artist image is for wankers.

I don't think ASD affects how drunk you get, as everybody's different. I can have 2 beers and not get affected at all, while another person could feel a little drunk after 2 of the same beer.

Often when people tell me not to do things, it just makes me want to do them even more. It's considered part of oppositional defiant disorder, but I think it's probably just a normal human thing.

I know what you mean, you look back on what you used to consider normal and you're like "wow, I was really that unhealthy?"

I'm not sure how to explain the romance of depression, addiction, etc to someone who doesn't see them in the same light. I guess you only get it if you romanticize them too.

Thank you both for this. I was feeling like I was the only person who thought so lol. I'm disgusted by wine.

I used to drink heavily between the age of 15-20 and during that time I didn't get easily drunk, maybe became tolerant. If I ever drink now I feel drunk only after 2 pints and hate the feeling. Don't think it has anything to do with autism though.

I make it a rule to limit my alcohol consumption to one glass of wine per evening, and never to drink any alcohol before I drive somewhere. I got my license late and don't want to lose it because of a DUI, not to mention that it would be embarrassing. I had my license suspended due to a paramount act of stupidity and didn't have anything to drink. It was the worst three months of my life. I now have my license back, and don't want to lose it for any reason.

I don't like to drink beer because it makes me pee urgently, not a good feeling. Wine is relaxing.

I know I personally always had a pretty low alcohol tolerance, at least until the last kid and the last 20 pounds. Now I can drink like a big man.

That doesn't make it a good idea though. There's this very small window I reach with 3-4 drinks and can sustain with another drink every hour and a half or two hours called "relaxed happy drunk". I like to get there once in a while. Before that window, there's "permanent headache." After that window, there's "REALLY broken social filter followed by sicker than a dog."

My dad was an alcoholic (a very high-functioning, very mellow alcoholic-- worst he did was either get REALLY happy and loud or get maudlin and cry-- but an alcoholic none the less). Lot of substance issues on that side of the family. I like my rituals and routines and I suspect I'm very prone to addiction, and I DO NOT want to go there.