Being high

Post Reply New Topic

This sentence explains exactly why.

~4 years ago when I began learning about my ADHD I created an account on addforums.com and chose the name "goldfish," because I'd recently read that goldfish have a memory that lasts about 3 seconds. At the time my short term memory was functioning so poorly that it was an appropriate forum name to have on an ADD forum. That's why. It no longer applies, though, as my short term memory & executive functions have all improved significantly since figuring out the salicylate sensitivity and detoxing the acids a year or so ago, and again even more so with the diet/herbs etc more recently.

I have smoked every day for more than 10 years now. There are few who can tell my stonedness from being sober. Not sure if I'm on the spectrum, I'm being tested at the moment but even if I turn out to be there are too many other factors that have made me the person that I am.
Being stoned helps me deal with the shallowness of the world. As a child I was the weird one that never saw the trees for the wood. I would see a whole picture first and then look at the details but most adults didn't appreciate that.
Being stoned blunts my consciousness. I couldn't care less these days for the woods let alone the trees that are in it. It's not an ideal situation but one that lightens the unbearableness of being.

In reference to the OP's thing with food I am a firm believer of the Taoist way of food energetics. Foods can be used as medicine and on some level it probably affects neurotransmitters but the variables are too immense I was told once to figure it out...

One thing I learnt many years ago is that whiskey will make me violent to the point I will pick a fight with someone twice my size when I've drunk enough whiskey. I truly have/had a guardian angel in my time.
Bourbon or Sour Mash on the other hand would cause me to pass out.
Lager and wines give me a vicious headache the morning after.
I spent the rest of my drinking days drinking Black Russians with a Guinness top
I don't drink these days, it messes too much with my stomach.

well when i do get high, I get very high, every1 I ever smoked with is jelous of how frekin whaked I get lol

I don't like the term "high" to speak about any kind of altered state of consciousness experience ; for me it does imply some measure of euphoria and/or pleasure. But if you remove that connotation, I think the question is both interesting and a bit vague.

If you remove the euphoria/pleasure connotation, being high is being in altered state of consciousness. Altered compared to what ? That is a recurrent problem for students of ethnobotanics and neuropharmacology (and also other topics like meditation). What is the "ground state" ? Almost anything we do (I'm speaking of humans in general, autistic or not) or eat alter our state of counsciousness. I am more agressive and angry when I'm hungry, large amounts of foods rich in complex carbohydrates alter my insulin level and make me sleepy, etc. Even if you put the whole topic of autism aside, it is difficult to define a "ground state". And even if comparing subjective conscious experiences is a bit like trying to catch smoke with one's hands, it seems fair to assume that there is some qualitative difference between the "ground state" of an AS person and a NT person. In this regard, we may say that having AS is like some kind of altered state of consciousness for a NT person, and/or, equivalently, that being NT is like some kind of altered state of consciousness for an AS person. But that leads us nowhere else, we are just speaking of different cognitive styles using an alternate vocabulary.

It seems plausible to assume that because of that, some drugs will have different effects on AS and NT people (if you start from a different place, even if you go in the same direction you end up at a different destination). I have indeed found that some drugs have an unusual effect on me (a supposedly innocuous plant once sent me in an acute panick attack, some rather powerful psychedelics did absolutely nothing to me, etc.) but I don't know if it is just individual differences (everyone reacts differently to different substances) or something linked to ASDs. That kind of comparison might provide ways to better characterize the way our mind works and give insights about what differentiate it from neurotypicals. But I obviously don't think any drug could let an AS experience the world as a NT or vice versa, in the same way that you can't turn a diesel engine into a regular internal combustion engine just by adding something to the fuel. Not now, anyway.

HAH!

I am always accused of being high when I am sober, and sober when I am HIGH. LOL.

Even more corroboration of my statement that I believe Asperger's to be a food chemical induced drug trip.

I like goldfish, such dedication. It's beautiful.

<3

I fully acknowledge that people here think this is an ASD obsession. But as I've said before, I ONLY go on about it here on wp and not anywhere else in the rest of my life because I truly believe it is the single most valuable contribution I can make to this community of people suffering from the same neurological/behavioural & digestive symptoms. If I were independently wealthy, I'd pay for anyone of you who was willing to try this. It truly has changed my life that much.

I've yet to talk to him about it, but there's always the possibility that my Naturopathic Doctor friend may run a medical trial of sorts in the future. It's one thing I'm going to propose to him at some point. I've been in brief contact with others about doing this. It may not happen for months/years yet, though. It's just sort of a potential back burner project. I'm much more focused on my own self improvement & finances at the moment - which are all coming along nicely, and all are interrelated. If it weren't for this treatment's success I wouldn't be working and saving money towards future investment and business goals - thankfully it's been a phenomenal success, and I am.

goldfish, I am glad that you have found a path that works for you. But you have to remember that everyone has their own journey. From my own experience, I know that I can't eat lactose and too much gluten is bad. But I have a myriad of complications. Sharing is good, but it can only go so far.
Regarding the original question: (and I still maintain my "no") there are similarities. For example . . . I have a natural distance and observational stance towards other people. This is something that marijuana enhances (which I like.)
But it's still not the same thing.

So do you believe you've had an infection since you were 5 (or however young you can remember having ASD issues or symptoms) or that you got an infection somewhere along the way later in life that made it worse?



You don't need to get defensive, I said I believed your experiences. What I'm trying to get from you is facts about yourself (for instance, this is the first time I've heard you say that you've had symptoms since a child and to have heard you clearly state that the symptoms have gotten worse over time), so that I can evaluate what you say for myself. No matter what has and hasn't worked for you is one thing, the reason it may have worked is quite another.

Most importantly, if you truly want to help people with ASDs since you feel your own experience applies heavily, then one of the necessary things you must do is convince those people that you are on the spectrum. No, you don't have to explain or make me believe your experiences to validate your own life, not in the least.
BUT saying things like 'Well it doesn't matter what you think' is completely and totally counter-productive to what you're trying to accomplish. What I and others think of your experiences and whether I and others believe that you were on the spectrum and whether or not all your spectrum issues are completely resolved are of the utmost importance if you want to convince others to do the things you suggest as a solution to their AS. I *have* believed you but rather, given the information you've given me, I have come to a possible different conclusion about your experiences. That's why I asked about your childhood experiences, to get a more fully formed picture.



I want to again say that I am *not* disagreeing with your experiences. What I am questioning is your conclusion of them. Take the information I have given to me, from you and others. You equate AS symptoms as being on drugs. You describe certain foods as drugs to you. You don't feel like you're on drugs anymore having changed your diet.
But now there's someone else who says that being drugged up isn't at all like their AS symptoms. They have no reason to lie, they are also describing their own experiences.
There is either a mishmash of symptomology between you and those diagnosed aspies, or everyone experiences pot (the standard drug one uses when describing themselves as high) very, very differently.



I didn't describe my point fully, as this entire section of yours I agree with, (well, agree with enough) and it in fact was a part of the point I was trying to get across. What you didn't get was what follows from that, that drugs aren't the same thing as a brain that's wired wrong, but that your experiences seem far more like bad drug trips due to food or toxins from parasites etc than a brain that couldn't wire quite like normal as an infant. If your symptoms are all alleviated in short order so quickly with a dietary change, then it's likely not you fixing AS since in order to fix AS one would have to rewire the brain as a mandatory part of the process. If you have autism, your brain is wired differently. If you cure your autism, it seems highly, highly unlikely that that would happen without rewiring the brain.



Not but in the same breath you are invalidating his experiences, doing the exact same thing that he has done to you.



Thank you for answering. I hope you see now that you're backpeddling on what you were saying, because you strongly implied/said before 'Yes, being high is like be autistic' and now you're only saying it's a *bit* like it.



Ah but does food chemical induced drug trip -> AS? Just because some foods or some infection caused you some severe executive dysfunction problems, that still doesn't mean you have aspergers. Or more likely, just because some food or infection caused you some severe executive dysfunction problems, that doesn't mean you're now cured of aspergers.

You're aware that for many, symptoms of ASD are such that they only get diagnosed later in life because they are simply unaware that what they experience is abnormal? The very fact that you knew something was incredibly wrong with you, that it had developed and gotten much much worse as an adult the past couple of years, that it WAS cured by changing your diet, all seem to indicate that those issues weren't due to autism. And there's another side to consider too. What about people who have parasitic infections, who have salicylate intolerance, or who otherwise have some sort of disease that we explain by gut dysbiosis, yet who don't describe themselves as feeling particularly autistic? Surely you don't think everyone who has intestinal issues that are resolved in a similar way as you have resolved your own, have autism?

If your symptoms hadn't gotten worse at some point in your life, if you had been diagnosed as a child, if you had strong memories as a child of being autistic and those symptoms were similar to what you've experienced in the past couple of years, if all symptoms of autism could only exist while being autistic...then you'd be convincing enough, for me at least if I knew I had autism, to want to try your diet.


I want you to know that I feel that I'm being as strict with you as I am with myself. I have had serious mental issues develop ~17 years old, and because of that, unfortunately, things like ADHD and autism are likely to not apply to me, no matter how much one or another may fit now. (I am trying to resolve this issue though, albeit slowly since, of course, all psychiatrists are too busy where I live.) I also have celiac disease and since being restrictive with my own diet I have come across other food intolerances and have noticed mental improvement of my own.

Am an aspie. And have partaken of the sweetleaf on occasion.

I think it does make a person a little more 'autistic' than normal (ie into their own thoughts). An autistic person isnt really in the same state as an nt who is perpetually stoned on pot all of the time, but there are some similiarities.

Gonna have to agree with this. I've tried the GFCF diet a few times and failed. Whenever I cave into donuts or pizza after a good long GFCF streak, it's like taking painkillers.

Pizza would be like taking codeine for me then. I get so sleepy.

I got high on Ritalin and beer recently. I'm not proud of it but I didn't feel more autistic, I actually felt like how a person with regular bipolar would. I was talking faster than I was running around and jumping from one task to another and feeling like everything was just awesome yet having pangs of anxiety every time some person looked at me, and when the party was over I wanted to keep going and that's when I ran into trouble. But weed is what makes me feel like how I used to be as a kid. Just completely into my own thoughts except for the fact that I could turn to people and talk to them. There were no restraints on what I said too. I'd smoke more if it didn't make me super paranoid the next day.
I swear I was hallucinating too. I thought a certain plant in the garden had turned into the Serenity spaceship from Firefly. This was after getting stoned.

Personally, I only feel euphoric when high.



Yep. Which is why I occasionally seek that euphoric feeling.

No, I believe that I was born with an intestinal imbalance & it grew and developed into an infection which was exacerbated by dietary factors, eventually culminating in the last few years or so (prior to the last several months) of extreme symptoms.

From my observations of my extended family and their behaviours, I believe (for the living) it starts from my Grandmother on down to her 4 kids, then to my generation, and on to the next with my cousin's & brother's kids. In the sake of a male, my brother, passing on gut bacteria, one of two possibilities comes to mind: either bacteria are hard coded into gametes and passed on even by males, or his ex-wife had a digestive imbalance - and from what I know of her and her family history, she does. Or it could be both. My grandmother has always been a pessimist while the sibling of hers I know best has always been an optimist. There are other symptoms, but I believe the basic difference between the two of them their whole lives is gut dysbiosis. Their behaviours/signs etc fit the bill & my experiences. Seeing the two of them is like me experiencing my before and after. Better yet, seeing my (untreated) twin brother is like experiencing my before and after lol.



OK. My point was only that I don't need external validation to know that what I've experienced my entire life matches exactly to the textbook definitions of AS as described in "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome." while I do have a small gemstone collection, I do not own a crystal ball and could not have foreseen what benefits would happen when I headed down this healing path. It's impossible for me to turn back the clock and go get professionally assessed for ASD a year ago when I was at/near my worst in terms of symptoms. Pretty well any time in my life up until several months ago, a keen trained observer would put my on the spectrum - especially over the last 3-4years of living hell. Now? I honestly don't know if an evaluator would put me on the spectrum at all. I suspect a professional assessment might yield results similar to what some others have posted here: Has AS traits but not enough to be considered ASD, or something to that effect. Yes, I have changed that much to outside observers - as is evident by the feedback I continue to receive from friends and family. Further, I've noticed my own thought processes change (and continue to improve.) over the months. I used to be the one writing these sad AS posts (see my posting history here, go see my older posts as goldfish on addforums.com, feel free to hit me up for the details and go creep my Facebook timeline for the last handful of years.) and now I read others posts and think a couple different things: 1.) "How does this person just not get it??" and 2.) I used to be just like that. I get how they don't get it. Thank God I don't think/feel like that anymore.



Of course people experience drug effects differently. It also depends on one's definition/interpretation of "drug," too. Oregano oil has many medicinal properties, and therefore drug effects. 2 people might each experience anti-inflammatory effects of it on a sore throat, one describes it as a drug effect, the other doesn't consider it a drug effect because they're not "high." Virtually every food has a chemical drug effect on our mind/body. Chocolate is a prime example as it has been studied and documented and reported about to the nth degree, yet still there are many who would state that chocolate does not have drug effects because they're not pot/cocaine/lsd etc drug effects.

It's been my experience that the symptoms of ASD have been largely food chemical induced drug trip effects, as is particularly evidenced by the 5 month depression and ever declining executive function as well as motor skills that turned out to be caused by a buildup of salicylate acids mainly from the foods I was consuming, along with herbal medicines & pharmaceuticals that exacerbated the effects. Detoxing the acids had a massive improvement on many symptoms.

Detoxing other foods, clearing the infection, and now healing the intestinal lining in preparation to repopulate the gut with healthy probiotic bacteria has had night and day dramatic improvement of other AS symptoms & thought processes.



Your assumption is that Autism is a rewired or differently wired brain. This is only a theory used to describe AS. I've read no proof of different wiring nor seen a schematic showing different wiring. Further, there's no conclusive evidence afaik that there is one single cause of Autism. I'm open to the possibility of there being multiple causes. Yes, I'm aware that there are studies that have shown greater/lesser activity in certain areas of the Autistic brain. I'm suggesting that instead of a hardware wiring problem that the reason for this is a food chemical induced drug trip and that it's the effect of these food chemicals, leaked from the gut, that end up "tripping out," the brain or short circuiting it causing these different activity levels - much like a brain scan of someone on MDMA, or alcohol for that matter, will show different hot spots of activity than a sober brain.

These are only my thoughts on this as obviously I don't have conclusive scientific evidence to prove it, but it makes sense to me that this may be what goes on in my/our brains. I do have personal experience with several naturally occurring recreational drugs as well as pharmaceuticals and truly feel that the altered states of mind of AS from NT are comparable to drug trips.



True. I suppose I'm guilty of getting defensive & taking things personally when being called a liar. My mistake. I'm only human.



By a bit I mean comparable. By a bit I mean a bit like the effects of several different drugs. I say a bit because the high of smoking marijuana does not equate to the experiences of the AS mind exactly. Nor does taking abc drug, or xyz drug, but in general drug trips are comparable apples to apples to the AS experience, IMO.



Except I've said over and over my entire life's experiences can be summed up in the book "The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome," by Dr. Tony Attwood, not that I merely had some executive function issues. Further, I've stated that ALL of these neurological symptoms have improved dramatically, not just executive functions.



I'm very well aware of this. I didn't figure it out for myself until I was nearly 30 years old, and had lived my entire life that way up until then just like the many people who post about their adult revelations on this forum every day. Again, you can't possibly live inside my head and experience what I have and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it matches exactly to the textbook descriptions of Autism.

Good point. Is it possible to have those things and not Autism? Maybe. It's possible that it takes those things + a genetic predisposition to experience Autism symptoms. It's also possible that people with these ailments experience Autism symptoms
but are unaware that that's what they're experiencing, just like I and others are unaware their entire lives until adulthood and then figure it out. It's possible that people just describe things as anxiety, depression, brain fog, balance & motorskills issues, oversensitive hearing, sensitivity to light, racing thoughts, obsessive behaviour etc and have no idea that the sum of these things (and plenty more) equals Autism if they've never read about Autism. Think about it. If you had never learned anything about Autism before, would there be a thought or feeling that you would experience and then describe yourself as feeling Autistic? No, probably not if you had no idea what Autism actually was besides having heard the name Autism before.

Same goes with ADHD - everyone's heard of it, as had I, but until I read the list of 100+ symptoms I had no idea it encompassed as much as it does and that I fit the bill. well, did. I haven't retaken the Amen Test to see what my ADHD test scores might be today. And no, I've never taken an online Autism test. I read a few books and was one of those people who's reaction was "Holy s**t, THIS is it!" & didn't need anything else to realize it for myself. Further, I never set out to go down this path thinking I'd need any reason to document everything to the nth degree as evidence of something working as it has since I had no idea it would work as it has. But it has, and that's why I keep sharing with this community that it has... and pointing out that research is continuing to be done in the area of gut dysbiosis as a cause of Autism. I'm simply ahead of the western medical curve on this one. I'm not the first person in the world to figure this out, or I wouldn't have been able to read "Autism," as a symptom of Candidiasis on one or more of the Naturopath's website links I shared. It's clear to me that some Naturopaths are aware of this and it appears western medicine has ignored them for whatever reason. My best guess is Greed/big pharma profits.



why if they hadn't gotten worse? Many here report fluctuations in their level of functioning and Autism symptoms. Textbook definitions say that symptoms come and go and can last for any length of time and severity and then change again, just as with ADHD traits. Autism is not a consistent symptoms disorder, so doubting me because symptoms got worse during a period is silly. Further, while I disagree with them, others have accused me of simply having an up or even manic time of symptoms right now - which is at least evidence that many on this very forum are aware that symptoms fluctuate with ASD.

My mother tried to have me evaluated for something as a child but the child psychologist came back with nothing. In part this was because, and I remember this, I gave him the answers I knew would describe me as normal vs. the truth for fear of being labeled/wrong/defective etc and was smart enough to deceive him so he'd give me a pass and I wouldn't have to by the kid who had to go see a shrink.

I do have strong memories of my thoughts/feelings/social ineptness and other traits from as early as I can remember. It likely went unnoticed because I have a twin brother and so we always had each other to play with/fight with, so it may not have been as apparent to others just how different I was.

what do you mean if all symptoms of Autism could only exist while being Autistic? There are so many symptoms that overlap with other things or can be independent, I realize, but when one has experienced nearly all of them the sum of the whole is Autism. Otherwise you could call out anyone on the spectrum, diagnosed or not, as not being on the spectrum because they just have anxiety, executive function disorder, sensory processing disorder, dyspraxia, depression etc etc instead of Autism.

That's kind of the point. I've shared that I've experienced these exact symptoms all my life, did this, and now I don't experience them - or at least not anywhere near as severe. That's why it'd benefit others on the spectrum to give this a shot and see if it works for them. It'd take them a couple of weeks and cost very little money to find out if it's going to start working to control/reduce/eliminate their symptoms as it has for me. Pretty simple vs. debating it with me for months, or waiting years for the results of medical studies to prove it to them vs. just trying it and finding out.




would you consider trying what I've done to see if it works for you? Or part of it first, more perhaps later? ie in the same stages as I learned about myself: salicylate acid detox via epsom salts and dietary changes, eliminating specific foods & increasing certain others/herbs, then if that begins to work - the extremes of herbal enema treatments (which aren't uncomfortable, just time consuming.) & then potentially healing the gut and adding probiotics.

One question to ask of you, or for you to ask yourself is, do you react negatively to Aspirin? Aspirin sensitivity = salicylate sensitivity and is a sure sign of leaky gut, and likely caused by candidiasis. According to naturopaths websites I read, this also causes a variety of allergies and food sensitivities, besides all of the mental/neurological/behavioural things.

Your life, your call, but IMO & experience - it's worth looking into/trying just to find out if it does work for you. If it doesn't, you've ruled it out. If it does, your entire life could change for the better for having learned it.


Edit: Thank you for the post & questions. I appreciate it and your level headed, civil, constructive approach.

Cheers,
Richard

I have not followed Goldfishs' particular protocol. I do know that when I abstain from high gluten, processed, high glycemic foods,etc. it definitely improves the "smoothness' of my brain functioning. [ I believe it does for NTs' as well] Working out, following schedules, being mindful of when i am on the brink of a meltdown and taking the appropriate action also help.

When I truly take care of myself, there are profound differences. In no way, shape or form do I consider anything I do a cure.I do not believe there is a cure. I do not need one. I do not want one.

When I take care of myself, I am no less autistic, but it is then easier for me to appreciate the positives of my unique wiring.