Asperger's and Cannabis

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I have recently put everything together for myself with the help of the only friends who still speak to me - and happen to be on the spectrum. I have long been aware of Asperger's and autistic traits, but like many Aspie women, I was grossly misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder (which I never thought I had). And several defining autistic traits are different in females. I took another look at my issues after another period of not being able to handle my day to day enough to hold down a job or build any personal relationships. I have always been "gifted" and put in the appropriate classes but I never got help for my social or emotional or sensory issues. This has greatly complicated my life and contributed to many negative and traumatic experiences and inexplicable failures (for someone so "together and smart" as me). I am female and nearly forty and scraping by and looking after my aging parents in the deep South.

Also, I believe smoking and ingesting marijuana has probably saved my life. I have, like most autistic people, a very high base level of anxiety that I have been told I can think my way out of (but really can't). The right amount of pot can quiet my jitters and put me in a state of mind that I deeply feel makes me more creative and calm. I can even feel content enough to get up and get housework and creative work done.

I know the perception is that any drugs are detrimental, but I also have been taking Lamictal as a mood stabilizer and nothing else but my blood pressure meds. I would do much better if cannabis were legal in my neck of the woods and I could better know the strength and quality and specific effects of what I was getting, but ridiculous and abusive laws keep positive naturals out of the hands of people with nerve disorders who have been proven to benefit from types of cannabis.

Do any of you also use pot to regulate sleep and anxiety?
How do you feel about it?

I live where it is legal, and it works so well for me that I wonder if what I had all along was just an endocannabinoid deficiency.

I have an appointment with a medical cannibas doctor on February the 3rd and hope to have my script and the cannibas in my hands within 2 to 3 weeks time. I have multiple chronic mental and physical illnesses in addition to my autism and I hope it will benefit me in more than one condition. I have tried a ridiculous number of medications and treatments over the years and I shouldn't have any trouble getting a prescription at this point.

It is only recently that the laws and attitudes here have changed allowing medical cannibas to be used for any condition and the number of doctors willing to write scripts have mulitplied.

Your experiences sound just like mine. I too found pot to be very helpful in dealing with sleep issues and relaxation. They diagnosed me with bipolar in my teens, which I think might be a mistake. I do have moodiness triggered by stress but not anything that sounds like mania. I tend to get angry when I'm overdoing things, so I have to do things little by little. I find lamictal helpful too, but have been hesitant to start it again because of my other health problems... Psych meds have so many side effects :/

I did experience a lot of negative side effects from the marijuana I was using for so many years, and it worsened my autism symptoms, especially mutism in situations where I needed to communicate-- so I chose to quit it. I also really hated having to contact a dealer and to have pretend to be his friend. People should not have to go to drug dealers to get pot. If it were legal, I think I would feel more relaxed about the whole issue.

I have Aspergers syndrome and I have been using cbd oil for about 3 months and it has been doing wonders here. Now CBD oil is something like a permanent medicine, something I can't live without.

I started smoking weed to quit drinking. Then I started drinking again. I finally stopped drinking and now just smoke weed. I see it as a stimulant that doesn’t come with a hangover or calories. I can also smoke weed all day long and still function. Socially it makes not talking to people better. I’m not trying to go out in public without weed.

Yes, I think that cannabis can be very helpful for people with autism/asperger's. It does reduce stress and can place you in a better mood. A few guidelines for people interested in experimenting with cannabis:

- Use it at the end of a productive day. I personally never use cannabis or alcohol when learning, studying, working etc.

- You have to use it wisely, in a disciplined way. You will have to learn how to use it for yourself.

- Smoking cannabis is not the only option. You can bake it in cake or cookies, or you can vapourize it. Buying a good vapourizer can be expensive so it is better to make such an investment when you are pretty sure cannabis is working for you.

- You should only experiment if you have access to a reliable cannabis resource. If you live in a US state where cannabis is legal you are very lucky. Where I live, cannabis is half legal: selling at so called "coffee shops" is okay, but cannabis production is illegal.

I don't, and have never, taken cannabis. I knew a guy from church, he was married, working, with a beautiful son but he was hooked on cannibis. Then one night he tried to stop taking it and had a psychotic break. At first he was screaming for help and then, after the police turned up to help him, he got really paranoid and started calling everyone near him something very rude and then threatened to kill people. He was arrested. The following day after he was released he was still out of his mind for a while but slowly came around to his normal self. He came and talked it over with me and broke down at how much this drug was messing him up. Now I suspect not everyone who takes that drug ends up like him or no-one would ever take it but I am never going to even try. It sounds awful to me.

No. I cannot stand the smell!

If you do smoke peeps. Do it outside, away from the buildings. There's nothing worse than other people's stinky cannabis smoke leeching into your house from next door.

There is always vaporizing which you can't smell if you are more than 5 feet away or cannabis oils/edibles which you can't smell unless it is literally in your face or capsules which dont smell at all.

In my case... I could never for obviously legal reasons.


And of it were legal here? I'd still won't take it. I'd make sure I won't ever need it to make my life easier.
In fact, it doesn't matter if it's weed or milktea. If anything, I don't want my functioning to be dependent on any single source or concept. Unless it's the doctor's orders of course.

I've been living in a world where availability and access is an issue. That's why I cannot allow dependence of single, scarce, or anything that is expensive or a hassle.

I've completely resolved anxiety without it, and I'm steps closer to resolve my sleep issues without it.
My sleep issues might as well less to do with autism, and more to do with something else entirely.

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^ I've never noticed any effect at all on anxiety, let alone adverse effects.

sod it then