Alcohol and Autism

Post Reply New Topic

Curious if anyone would like to share their thoughts on being in the spectrum and their relationship with Alcohol.

I'm happy to share my experiences in due course.

I'm teetotal, meaning I don't drink alcohol and have never been drunk before (and I'm not religious nor have any physical health conditions).

Sometimes it makes me feel like an alien on this planet, like I don't belong, because realistically British people (between the ages of about 16-60) that don't care for alcohol are extremely rare, probably about 0000000000000.1% of the UK population.

I'm not addicted , as in, if I were banned from drinking it for six months I wouldn't care. But I use it to loosen up sometimes. If I'm in deep depression I'll have a drink, because the alternative is to just endure the pain.
Some situations in life are just tortuous without it,such as going somewhere to socialise with strangers. If I feel in an introverted mood and I have an appointment to spend time with someone I'll use it to ensure I'm not cold towards said person.

I have a need for socialising, but most people I know are not autistic. So they're going to expect me to do things they find easy but I find hard. Like socialising in groups of people I'm not familiar with, if I don't drink in those situations its just bad for me and them.

Experience with Alchohol and autism …. Not a good combination, when or if you get hung over , I believe the effect is heavily multiplied by virtue of being a Aspie. Personal experience .. am durn near being a teetotaler , as you can be without being one , or admitting to it .Now. But did experiment for many years , but never heavily . Not good at being addicted to stuff of that nature . And when was younger my body seemed to be able to process that stuff better. Started off with social drinking . Drank very rarely in private . And as I did not really get into social drinking even, it seemed that I accomplished much more than my NT peers . In those days , And did make a few very few,soft relationships that way that helped me in business , much later. Life focus did not revolve around any thing that had to do with alcohol. Probably should say here never went out of my way to have many friends , much
Less drunken ones .

I don't really know if there's any connection between alcohol consumption trend and autism.

I'm a moderate drinker and pretty much only drink wine. I only drink for its taste, not for its effect on me. So if there were a non-alcoholic wine that tastes exactly the same as real wine, I would definitely choose that.

I am not capable of becoming addicted to alcohol because a glass or two make me too sleepy to have any more.

I know two other autistic people's drinking habits. One is like me and the other doesn't drink at all.

My relationship with it comes and goes. It took me a long time to start to develop an interest in drinking and my interest tends to randomly evaporate for years only to come back like the McRib.

I drink alcohol much more than I'd like to. I find it hard to relax after socializing and going through sensory overload all day at work, so I've developed a habit of drinking during the week. I don't ever really get drunk, so that's not an issue, but I still shouldn't be drinking that often.

My sensitive tasting wouldn't allow me to drink beyond a sip or a bottle if I like it enough.

I couldn't get accustomed to any alcohol flavors yet. It'll take some coaxing to make me drink more than I'd voluntarily do myself.


And the effects? Being tipsy or at least closer to getting drunk?
Sure, I'm that kind of happy drunk.

But cognitively not worth it.
It's giving me this weird tunnel like processing when navigating, already bottlenecking my already quantity limited processing due to chronic poor sleep.
It doesn't make me more relaxed, it just make me have to tighten my control more. It's like losing my internal traction more than I already have.

Never been drunk enough to experience a hungover.
Attempted to have it as a sleep aide from an advice. But again, my sense of taste wouldn't let me reach a point of actually being drunk.


TLDR; my relationship with alcohol is more or less the same towards any flavors I wouldn't like to taste, and effects are not worth it enough.

Anything else (social/culture wise) is irrelevant.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

Thank you Edna for putting this so concisely , what you wrote here is a strong similarity to what ,I have gone through for years with the stuff .
(Edna wrote):
But cognitively not worth it.
It's giving me this weird tunnel like processing when navigating, already bottlenecking my already quantity limited processing due to chronic poor sleep.
It doesn't make me more relaxed, it just make me have to tighten my control more. It's like losing my internal traction more than I already have.

Always thought it was a struggle to drink , had drinkers on both sides of parents , but in spite of my efforts
And what few friends , had in high school , lent towards my drinking and experimentation for many years , on and off of my life . Did not realize the struggle my brain was in trying to maintain normal function . Actually did not have the words to describe it. But that was definitely what my brain was doing. But in my own way as with many things .
I did source the cleaner alcohol to drink . Less distillates ,so hangovers were minimal when I used to drink on a periodic basis. But was doing what I thought normal people did , To let off stress.

Except did not realize that trying hold onto control , Was more draining than the relief that it gave.

I am very sensitive, and learned early that alcohol impacted me quickly and negatively (I don't generally like the loss of control and it upsets my stomach). I was a teetotaler until during a decade-long medical hardship, two doctors(!) told me to drink. I tried it out in moderation: I have one small drink about once a month with my BFF. It's ok. However, when I went through a really hard and significant lifestyle shift last year, I drank about 4-8 oz every day for a week... just enough for a small buzz, nothing more. It was helpful, not hurtful. So I suppose I self-medicated, and that was ok. Everything in moderation. Use it, don't abuse it.

Funnily enough me being teetotal is actually more alienating than being on the spectrum. I believe just as many Aspies drink as NTs, so I don't think me having an ASD has anything to do with teetotalism.

I know that I'd have more friends, and more of a social life, if I drank enough alcohol to relax and get drunk. Yes, it's a sad society.

I would be happy being teetotal but society makes me beat myself up about it instead.

forgive me if you've already said, but i dont remember reading it. What is the actual reason you dont ever drink anything?