Aspies and addiction.

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yes for some people touching the substance again can lead to full blown addiction. But that is one thing that makes the difference. I am at that point now where i truly know that drugs do nothing for me. The anxiety i experience isn't from withdrawels either, since it lasts years, its from this disorder i have. As i said, i screw up often, but i also have long points of clean time, AA alot of the times has you live in fear of relapse, but that is not recovery. recovery is when u can go threw everyday not afraid of whether you relapse, or if you do knowing that you can pull urself right back up again. Getting off drugs requires alot of mistakes, i have been through withdrawel from opiates well over 60 times. I used to go threw full withdrawal from start to finish almost every week. But i went through withdrawal only because i would keep throwing out my drugs at the end of the night because i wanted to quit, i put myself through it. Now whenever i take my drug of choice, it usually just makes me sick. You have to look real deep inside and ask yourself, do u live in fear of relapse everyday? i have tremendous respect for AA members, and i sometimes go to meetings myself. If so, then you may need to find a new way to go about recovery, and yea if ur still anxious and all that i do recommend trying pot. I still and always will believe, marajuana can be a life saving alternative, it can be used until your body accepts quitting, and until u are fully and truly ready to simply give it up. When you simply give it up, you will loose cravings and the need for it, it is a completely different feeling from "recovery." fact is, MJ does basically the same thing as anti depressants, without the negative side effects. You, or anyone especially with a disorder should know that most of what comes out on the news, out of politicians mouths and generally accepted things in society are definitely not always correct. In fact most of the time its ass backwards and society believes completely what they are told without forming their own opinions. When u start to battle the actuall problem, drug use will fade naturally

I've never been addicted to anything although I used to smoke for a couple of years and gave it up easily. In my early to mid 20's I took a lot of drugs; I got heavily into the clubbing scene where it was the norm and by taking them I felt for the first time that I was truly connecting with other people and was escaping from all the things that had made me so unhappy (both ideas, of course, were nonsense).

I wouldn't say it was peer pressure that forced me take them though as noone ever forced me; it was more curiosity; I was going through a period of experimenting with a lot of things of which drugs was just one part and I wanted to experience as much as possible. I never got addicted though as I only ever took anything with other people - even now I won't do as much as drink a glass of wine by myself in the evening. I think I find things like drugs, alcohol, etc a way to help connect with other people, which I guess is why I only feel thee need to take them when I'm in company.

One thing I did find which I found strange was the couple of times when I tried coke (and it was just a couple because I've lived with a couple of coke addicts and seen how made it can make you) I felt like how I imagine it feels to be NT; I was deeply interested in other people, didn't care about talking about myself and just wanted to hear as much about them as possible. It felt really good and that's why I never took it again - I didn't want to feel like I had to take it to interact.

It's been many years now since I've taken any drugs and I don't miss them at all, although I also don't regret taking them when I did.

the problem is that drug use and the benefits you get from it are so temporary its not even worth messing with. And then when you do get the benefits, you use the drug until the benefits are gone, often times not really realizing the benefits are gone and continuing use just to feel normal. Depends what u use too, not all drugs are created equal, that is for sure.

I have the susceptibility to become an alcoholic. Actually my father's father was one and I went through a short period of time where I drank everyday. I was basically depressed and that made me feel better. But several months of hard liquor did its number on my stomach. I started waking up in the middle of the night thinking I was having a heart attack, cuz of the acid reflux I guess. Right then and there I quit.

I still use alcohol to feel better, but thankfully I am no longer depressed. I worry what might happen if I get depressed again.

All in all though, I cannot give up alcohol. It is my main social tool. Without it I act like a complete moron in front of others. With it I have the confidence to actually talk to people. TBH I think this may be why many Aspies start using it in the first place.

I've never been addicted to a substance. I don't doubt in the slightest that one can become addicted, but I don't understand the mentally of it.

I've been addicted to various games, tv shows or topics at different times. But it always ends the same way, one day I decide it's stupid and/or I'm tired of it and never go back to it. Maybe many of us have the same tendency to turn away from addictive substances.

I never gave into peer pressure to take illegal drugs. I was always able to say no. But I drank a lot from time to time but could always stop, luckily.
On one occasion I had to be hospitalised with alcohol poisoning, not nice.Then I started smoking cigarettes and battled to stop. I have now quit, happy to say I have beaten the nicotine monster for good this time, two years now.
I think I am very lucky I kept away from illegal drugs. It's sad to see people throw their lives away for nothing. Alcohol and cigarettes claimed two of my reatives at a very early age, so they can be just as dangerous.

So be careful using any substance, usually there will be no good come out of it, most likely bad.

well my social tools were, alcohol for 12 years, cocaine with the alcohol for 2 of those years and Heroin for 5, which started from a pain prescription from the doc. And i have used and tried many others. i would say your in the perfect place right now then to try to find a substitute for alcohol. Im off drugs, no i don't go to bars anymore, the only time i leave the house is for kung fu. If you have even the slightest hint that it will become a problem in the future, then it is already a problem. I would just find something to substitute it with, and alcohol does more damage to your body then heroin does, unless you I.V. it. Actually alcohol did the most damage mentally and physically to me out of every drug i have tried. I would go so far as to tell you to google KRATOM, it is a less addictive opiate, in my opinion its probably less addictive then pot. It will completely remove your social anxst, especially if u have never used opiates before. It causes no physical damage and is far safer to use then alcohol. There is a billion drugs out there, some of which are rarely heard of but used heavily in other countries. The fact is that alchohol is so completely toxic that it gave me Gout at the age of 17 and when introduced to people new to it, like the alaskan natives, it can destroy entire communities and households. Nobody really understands the true depth of what a drug can do until it happens to them. Take my word for it, Google Kratom, try pot, anything but alcohol. I would even say, go get a heroin addiction, because it is still better then alcohol, i can't believe the government cries about marijuana but they shove liquor in your face help you light up a cig and then when u fall down drunk and break ur leg, the doctor is there to throw opiates at you. Its like one day just bam it hits you, i don't know how much you drink, but eventually if you do you will receive permanent anhedonia. I don't know if you have the limited interest thing and everything else you can't find joy in, but if you don't have it you will get it, and if you got it, it will make it 10x worse.

Everyone around me recognizes that I am susceptible to addictions LOL. I smoke cigs and green, and drink daily. These things help me to deal with the anxiety of having AD, and dealing with severe depression. I work in customer service (cashier and shift supervisor) and interacting with all of those people all day long takes its toll!

While it sounds serious, I smoke less than half a pack a day, .5 to 1 gram of weed (when I can afford that much) and less than a 6 pack of cheap beer. While I am not happy about having to use these substances to get through the day, but I've only been doing these things since I was 23 (I'm 25 now) so I am banking on few years of partying (later than my peers in HS and uni did!) before I have to sober up and be a good role model for kids and workmates.

I have been clean and sober for 19 years, the first five were hard and I was in AA meeting all the time. Not so much hard because I had an immediate urge to drink, hard because I was trying to live without the only coping tools I had really known growing up. Real life sucked a lot, I got in a bad relationship, then was living out some sort of abuse thing I still don't understand, I had no money, I moved from job to job. I tried to see a therapist, but the good ones were too expensive, and the nearly free one was overwhelmed by all my issues, and I had to let him go. I spent most of my time alone. I wrote awful poetry, which I started reading in public, and I had no idea what was appropriate. I didn't understand what I wrote, but others could see right into my soul and see my dark secrets.
I got better, mostly. I am way more guarded now. I don't go to AA meetings very often, but I do believe if I were to start drinking I would be a terrible drunk again, and I don't want that. I have an OK life now, AA teaches "one day at a time" and I try to live that. I only have to not take that first drink and I can remain sober today. I'm trying to deal with how I relate to people, since I became aware that many of my social problems were due to how I process things. I'm still not 100% I am an aspie, but the evidence is beginning to pile up.

everything in life is hard, and the best thing's even harder. Yes, since i used since i was about 12 years old, not only do i probably have this disorder, but i also neglected the most important development years for my social, work and school life. It devastated me in later years, thus is the story with most addicts, even ones without disorders. It is what it does to your brain that's bad, and i agree, pot can help, but the difference is, pot does not give you anhedonia by destroying your ability to produce happy chemicals, and really has very little long term effects. Alcohol and all those, the only reason i say try to avoid it is because eventually it kills your ability to produce happy chemicals, and thats when an entirely different hellish realm of pain starts. INDISCRIBABLE, imagine having anhedonia and being fed stimulants all day, thats 1/100th of what is like. I am all for drug use for certain individuals, it can trully make their life better. But what kind? is the question. Marijuana, Kratom, Kava Root Tea (not the yogi tea, actual root is drunk similarly to alchohol in other countries) are some of the few that are relatively ok to use. I implore you, if you use alcohol please look into Kratom, i think you would not only be pleasantly surprised, but you may find a better more fun alternative. I am of course not trying to be the police lol, i don't tell people what to do, i am just making suggestions based on the hell i have experienced. Oh and no, the drug induced anhedonia has not left yet, its been about 5 years. 24 hours 7 days a week i have anxiety to the point i could shake if i didn't know how to control it, it is only relieved by working out or practicing kung fu. I find people here have some very similar issues, and i am more keen to care about you guys o.0 yea i know its weird i don't even know u!, but maybe there is a piece of my heart that really feels for everyone...there is. Just curiouse, poster man! do you exercise regularly or are u able to? i ask because i did not believe the benefits, until i really needed them. And the benefits are divine quite literally. Same question goes for the other posters here, if you do not excercise regularly, talk to me, because that is the one of the sole things that keeps me of narcotics today.