would quitting smoking help my autistic symptoms?

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I'm trying to quit smoking since 2 years but can't do that. In the last months I've been throwing away cigarette packs everyday in attempt to quit. I just keep buying them and chain smoking them in rebound effect. I do that to self-medicate from the pain of living.

Ironically, I just do the opposite, when I'm not smoking I feel much better. When I smoke agian I usually smoke 10 cigarettes in one hour, I even cut the filter. I also drink 20 espressos a day just to smoke the cigarettes with them. But after a while, my mind starts racing and the negative thoughts get bigger. I start thnking of how miserable my life is and I should just off myself and how unworthy I am of any good thing in life, and that it's completely understandable that nobody wants to have anything to do with me and the ones who do just do it out of compassion and empathy for my misery.

Would quitting smoking make me less anxious and have less weird thoughts when I wake up? I usually imagine weird nonsense stuff when I wake up and have hallucination-like thoughts. I'm not psychotic tho, just autistic. I used to freak out as a child because I wanted attention that nobody gave me.

I wouldn't even TRY to quit, right now, if I were you. It sounds like you have ADHD, and Depression----they're very common to have in ADDITION to an ASD. I would suggest getting your other "issues" taken care of, FIRST----THEN, if you still want to quit, I feel you'll have a better chance.

"Would quitting smoking make me less anxious and have less weird thoughts when I wake up?"

NO----most definitely, NOT!! Quitting smoking will make you MORE hyper (anxious); and, having weird thoughts when you wake-up, MIGHT be due to something in your diet (what you're eating)----like, sometimes, chocolate can do that, to people----or, sometimes, just sugar, in general.

I'm speaking from experience, here, as I, TOO, am a smoker----and, I also have ADHD (in addition to being an Aspie)----and, I'm going-through some rough times, right now (totally UN-Aspie-related), and if I wasn't smoking, I'd probably wanna jump off a building.

Even if it doesn't help your autistic symptoms, quitting smoking would allow you to live longer, with more comfort.

Emphysema is not a thrilling thing to endure.

I smoked for a while when I was teenager. I chain smoked lucky strikes and clove cigarettes, and after a few years it was obviously bad for me, so I decided to quit.

It was hard for a while, but once I got through that, It got easy. After breaking through the first hard period of craving, it didn't happen again until one night I went out to a restaurant with some people and had steak and red wine and a little coffee for desert. Suddenly an intense craving was on me. But I the actual taste is disgusting, and recalling that helped to get through it again. Once I got beyond that second period of craving, it never came back.

Another thing that helped was realizing that I used smoking as a crutch to overcome situational anxiety and awkwardness. If I had to wait--at a bus station or to meet someone at a public landmark, for example--I would become very self conscious and draw negative attention or uncomfortable attention to myself with my oddness. But If I just sort of leaned against something and smoked, it gave me an excuse for just being there and I felt more comfortable. This sort of "social cover" could be transported to almost any environment. I wonder how much this is a factor for other people--do people smoke as a sort of social camouflage or way of blending in?

Good luck. It's much easier to breathe once you give it up.

As for your symptoms quitting won't help any autistic trait, but you'll breathe better, have more energy, have more money, and generally feel better which will make the autism easier to cope with.

The first day of quitting is going to suck hardcore, the first week is terrible, the first month is rough, and then after that it's not something you'll be thinking about, except at really stressful times. In the long run there are no downsides to stopping smoking, in the short term it can be very rough. But it is all about the first month: don't be a quitter when quitting. I also recommend falling in love with gum or hard candy, something to jam in your mouth so a cigarette won't fit.

I must be the only adult on the planet who has never smoked, unless you count all the times it was second-hand from my father and other people when I was a kid. Maybe that's the reason why I got so many ear infections as a kid that resulted in me getting ear tube surgery only about a million times. I don't think second-hand smoke is the reason my ears are so bad, but it didn't help the condition, that's for sure. My mother also can't be around smokers because of her asthma.

Because of this it makes my blood boil when smokers complain about their rights. As if non-smokers didn't have any rights.

It's a really bad addiction and quitting is no easy task but there are other and more healthier ways to manage anxiety.

And like I said only maybe 500 times before, Autism does not have symptoms.