Do people with ASD smoke?

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I smoke. I've quit several times but always started back during times of very high stress. I had planned to quit on the 20th, which was my 50th birthday, but didn't because of the shitstorm of crap I'm dealing with right now. I would either lose my mind and end up with a one way ticket to Catoniaville or end up climbing a water tower with a sniper rifle.

When I was a kid I grew up in a house with chainsmokers. I hated being around the smoke but back then everybody smoked and they did it everywhere. Movie theaters, grocery stores, doctors office, hospital rooms where nobody was on oxygen, restaurants, banks, offices, everywhere except ice cream stores. I think I started out of curiosity and it just seemed to help. A line in a book I read once sums it up nicely. "When I started smoking I found out something about myself. I had always been a smoker, I just hadn't had any cigarettes."

I'm not obnoxious about it. I won't smoke in a nonsmokers house or car even if they say it's ok. It's rude to do that. I won't smoke in my own house if I have a guest over who is a nonsmoker, or in my own car if one is with me. If I'm outside somewhere and talking to someone who doesn't smoke or who I don't know if they smoke or not I ask them if it will bother them if I smoke, and I wave it away if it goes toward them and if it keeps on doing that I put it out. Everyone else I live with smokes so we all smoke in the house. Of course when my mother comes home from the hospital and I'm staying with her to take care of her I'll go outside to smoke there because she had to quit when she went in the hospital this time with pneumonia (she's 80) and it would make it much harder for her to not smoke if I smoked in her house.

I don't kill anybody if I'm standing in the smoking area outside smoking a cigarette. I don't kill anybody if I'm in my house or car smoking. Or in my yard. Or walking down the street if I did smoke while walking down the street but I don't because it's tacky for ladies to do that, it makes you look like a hooker. To be honest though, even during the times I've quit smoking and before I ever started I would rather be around an obnoxious smoker than an obnoxious, self righteous nonsmoker that comes up with DB ridiculous comments like I'm killing them by smoking outside when thats ridiculous. Honestly, I'd probably think that those kinds of comments to a smoker who is out of cigarettes at the time or who is in a place where they can't smoke or who is trying to quit is a lot more dangerous to your health than 3 seconds walking past people smoking outside. A whole lot.

As for the ecigs, I tried them and they are nasty. My oldest daughter and her fiance used them when they went on vacation with his nonsmoking parents and shared a condo. They didn't want to go outside in the cold to smoke, and they also didn't want his parents to have to smell it on them in close quarters, so they bought a few ecigs. She brought one back and we all tried it a few times and nobody liked it. They didn't even like it and mainly just white knuckled it most of the time until they just had to have nicotine.

The first times I quit were when I was pregnant. That was easy for me because being around cigarettes made me sick to my stomach. Natural reaction to something thats harmful to the baby. I always started back though. The first time I quit for other reasons I used the patch and Xanax. I also switched to decaf coffee. That lasted a couple years and I started back when I had to fly a long way and decided to just smoke until I got home and would quit again but that didn't work. Couldn't smoke on the plane but could in the airport bar and at the destination. The second two times was with Welbutrin and that was fairly easy because they tasted nasty and not only did it help with my depression the lack of desire to smoke was a nice side effect. I still liked the smell of a cigarette and could enjoy it vicariously that way but just couldn't smoke. I only missed the habit itself. I did always start back when I ran out of meds and couldn't get anymore. The last time was New Years 2013. I quit cold turkey, no meds, no patch, no anything. I quit for four months and started back due to a lot of stress. This time I was quitting for my 50th birthday but I've been under such enormous stress that I just can't. Cigarettes calm me down. It works. I might could quit with the patch and Xanax and Welbutrin again, but I don't have access to a script nor the money for any of those anyway. The patch is about $50 a week, Xanax is about $30 a month and Welbutrin is $45. I smoke about a pack a day and cigs cost $3.78 a pack. Do the math. It's cheaper to smoke than to quit, because it's impossible to quit cold turkey right now.

What is your major stress reliever? What is the one thing you could do to calm you down when you are about to lose it? What if that was taken away from you completely and you had people calling you all kinds of names and implying that you are morally inferior for it? What if some jackass said you and anybody who used your particular type of legal stress reliever was a jerk? How would you feel to have to deal with stress without it and deal with some self righteous BS at the same time?

Luckily for me, it's legal. It's also simply to dismiss all rational objections to it when they are followed with a hysterical claim that I'm killing someone who I have fortunately never been in the presence of by doing something in the privacy of my own home.

Oh well.

BTW, do your parents and almost all your friends know you think they are jerks? I mean, if you feel so strongly about it, I think you should tell them you do. After all, that's being honest and being the morally superior being that you are, you owe it to them to be honest. Go tell them what you think, I dare you.

If you were trying out those disposable ecigs that have the led that lights up I am not surprised as they are NASTY! I tried several and they didn't work. However what did work was when I was given a try of refillables at our local cig store. They had disposable tips so customers could try them and different ejuice in them. Well they were great! While I am NOT going to tell you they are exactly like a cigarette they are pretty good. I transitioned over a period of a month and haven't had a combustible since 8 April of 2013. I have gotten to the point where I even make my own mixes of differing flavours and I quite like them. The brand I first started with was eGo but there are those that are even better. I use mostly Kanger products now. I was a 2 pack a day smoker and with mixing my own it costs me less then $5 a month and I still get to enjoy smoking. Plus this doesn't stink or smell. Just know those disposables are crap! And it wasn't your imagination.

I'm actually quite jealous of vapers. I wish e-cigs were around when I was full into the habit. All those flavors would have been great! One thing I hated about smoking was walking into my home and smelling the lingering smoke odors as soon as I opened my door. Vaping certainly would eliminate that unattractive byproduct of smoking. Plus, smokers can vape in places where regular smoking is not allowed--how cool is that?! I would probably paint my vaper some bright neon color so people wouldn't think I was killing them with a real cigarette LOL I sometimes think about vaping, but I really can't afford to resume an unhealthy habit, and I would worry I would be too easily drawn back to real cigarettes if I started back up.

I'll occasionally have a cigarette, it's not a regular thing though. I don't consider my self to be a "cigarette smoker", just as I don't consider my self to be a "drinker", but I do enjoy beer and will occasionally have a beer or two.

I've gone a month or two with having at least one cigarette a day, then I've gone weeks or months with out having one. I've smoked a pack in a weekend, other times I've had a pack sitting in my room for weeks with out being touched. I really don't find them to be addicting at all, if anything it's the act of smoking something (like a stim almost, but there is of course a mild nicotine buzz and some satisfaction that comes along with it). I never get cravings or the urge to smoke, but in certain situations a stoge does sound nice. I never really smoke when I'm alone, 99% of the time it's when in a "social" setting, or after a good meal sometimes a cigarette will sound nice. I can't remember the last time I had one, probably 3 or 4 weeks ago.

I am conscious and courteous of where I smoke though. Even if I'm around a bunch of smokers I make sure my smoke doesn't go towards them or bother anyone. I'll make sure I'm not near any doors, or open windows, I'm always aware of where my smoke is going. I never toss or leave cigarette butts laying around even if I'm not near a trash can, I usually have a small container to put the butts in if I'm outdoors in nature somewhere, then dump them once I come across a trash can.


And though inhaling smoke of any kind isn't good for the respiratory system, and tobacco is carcinogenic, I usually only smoke American spirit cigarettes which don't have any extra chemicals or freebase nicotine added to the tobacco. I particularly like the organic blend they have. Even if they're not any "safer" to one's health, they're smoother and don't have a nasty after taste like other cigs do.

I smoke small amounts of cannabis too.

People with ASDs are just as likely to smoke or not smoke as anyone else. There are various reasons as to why people start smoking. Not all people who start smoking do so because of peer pressure.

I wasn't judging or bashing other people. I was just expressing my opinion about smoking.
When I was 13, I had a strange obsession against smoking. But at the same time, I had a weird fascination with smoking and cigarettes. However, it wasn't a genuine temptation to smoke.

have never smoked a cigarette,spliff etc even though have been offered them [spliffs,not cigs],however have tried one of those e-cig things-it had the highest dose of nicotine of all ecigs,it was mums and she asked if wanted to try it,only wanted to try it because it was vanilla flavour.

some people with ASD smoke because of the nicotines effect on their ASD related or ADHD related impairments, am aware of that from the number of nootropic threads we have had.

Yes, people with Asperger's do smoke.

I started in college, it helped me deal with stress. Now I mostly vape (e-cigs).

I use to have a really strong willpower, but around 16 years old I was peer pressured into smoking by a "friend" I didnt really get it though because yes I too seen it as a waste of money and just rreally a stupid decision, after a few years I stopped smoking unless I was depressed and really stressed, I go to the gym now and still smoke, I found that a few smokes in the morning help my bowels move and gets me to have the needed "s**t" lol...I think nowadays the longest I can go without a smoke is about a week and a half, but I do enjoy a smoke ecspecially when drinking or socializing because it helps me relax but also think on my feet a little better I dont know why it just does, prob a placebo effect or something...if it works it works...

LOLOLOLOLOLOL snort.

I used to smoke. I quit a year ago. It made me wheeze and gave me migraines. Yacky stuff.

Anyone with the ability to inhale can smoke, anyone who can benefit from nicotine will likely enjoy and become addicted to smoking so I imagine there are many people with ASD propping up the smokers population.