Aspies and Alcohol

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Anyone know much on the effects of alcohol on someone under the spectrum? Is it pretty much the same, stronger, weaker, bring out certain tendancies more so or less so?

well i have a much lower alcohol tolerance than,most ppl but i dont know if its vec im an aspie.... i know that when im drunk im more social and more like an NT but ppl say that i act high when im drunk....

I do not drink at all, because I found whenever i drink (even if it's a tiny amount) my anxiety goes through the roof :S. This may or may not have anything to do with AS, but i'm sure it contributes in some way. My dad however (who I can say with certainty also has AS - with more severity than I - although he is also undiagnosed and will remain that way forever), is an alcoholic. When he is drunk, he is much more likely to have a blow-up or a meltdown with little or no provocation, and although he says horribly mean things to the people closest to him when he's not drunk (yes, he's quite special), he is much more likely to do so when he is drunk.

Good question. I don't drink alcohol and never have or even wanted to. High genetic propensity to Autism in ancestry too. One reason I don't understand the concept of alcohol: I rely upon my senses to navigate and I have extreme senses, or the awareness of my senses are highly attentuated. WHY would one choose to purposely sabotage this? Drinking alcohol, or an illicit or recreational drug, just wrecks havoc with senses!

For me, this would be like purposely walking near traffic with a blindfold on. I've watched NTs drink. Trust, they're plenty unpredictable anyway and when they're drinking they become worse. Unpredictable can precipitate dangerous. I've read most crimes, especially certain crimes (such as domestic homicide) are a direct result or related to intoxication. No surprise.

But, biochemically, I understand those with Autism/AS are extra-effected by alcohol; hyper-sensitive. This is true of most/many drugs, such as prescription meds and doctors need to account for this difference in uptake. Our neurology not only effects our thought, but our biochemistry, even neuroanatomy (but I won't go into that). Form follows function.

I don't know, Padium. They say when you have met one Aspie, you've met one Aspie, so I would think it didn't matter if a person was Aspie or not, if they were an Alcoholic then they are an Alcoholic Aspie.

I am an alcoholic Aspie, and have been all my life, I just don't drink now. I don't know if my case would be 'typical', but alcoholism occurs in families just like Aspergers'.

I drink. It makes me more tolerant of other people, and less easily irritated. (Or less homocidal, if I'm really pissed off.)
I don't show it though, people can never tell whether or not I've been drinking. I assume this is from having to be more attentive to things like walking in everyday life... NT's probably don't think about that.
I'd say I have an average tolerance.
As far as tendencies, no not really. I react to things pretty much the same way drunk or sober.

But everybody's different.

Just like an NT, it will slowly kill you at the same time it will periodically make you feel like crap and do the ridicule.

Apparently, I pull faces at people when I'm drunk. Or so I'm told. I think it's because other people are always pulling faces at me!

Perhaps this is me. I've been drinking a couple of beers every night lately, trying to work through my distress and trauma. I've been having a pretty rough few weeks or so, with this.

My anxiety level is creeping up every day. I wonder if the regular beers are making this worse? Or it's just the PTSD and picking at my distress?

If I weren't so perseverent when I set out to do something, I could take a few days off and do a self-check.

i used to drink a lot - now i do not drink at all. i used up my lifetime quota of drugs and alcohol by the time i was 36. i am 46 and have been sober for ten years,
it's better.

I have a higher functioning aspergers and I drink. Used to drink a lot more but now I moderate more. Alcohol usually makes me sleepy but can also make me carelessly carefree, or sad. It doesn't usually make me angry but it's happened. I say that in moderation, alcohol is ok. Getting drunk all the time is NOT ok.

I drink occasionally, but not to get drunk. I agree with LabPet on that -- I don't see the point of it. I got drunk once, and even while I was giggling and falling all over the place I kept saying how much I hated it. I hated the feeling of being out of control. The hangover the next day was no picnic either. Since then, I have made sure that I never drink enough to get drunk. I have a pretty high tolerance for alcohol, so that's not difficult.

I don't think being an Aspie or being Autistic has anything to do with how well you tolerate alcohol. I've known NT's twice my size whom I could drink under the table.

All fun and games until I have a meltdown.

Hrmm...i can't really say for sure in your case. If I were to be in my house by myself and have a beer before bed, I would probably be able to do this without any problem, or without it affecting my anxiety levels much. I think where i ran into problems, is that most if not all situations i found myself drinking were always social situations. I'm okay (if a bit uncertain of myself) in social situations normally, but when I was drinking in a social situation it would just heighten my uncertainty and social anxiety (if that makes any sense). Obviously alcohol affects everyone differently so I can't really say if it's the alcohol that is causing your heightened anxiety. But if you are going through a period where you are trying to figure things out about your life, drinking probably isn't going to help (imo) just because alcohol itself is a depressant. Drinking in general is just one of those things that I've never really understood the attraction to. Now, marijuana is a whole other story! lol

I don't know if my Asperger's plays a part or just my size, but I'm nearly impervious to the effects of alcohol. I can drink as much as I want (or afford, depending on the situation) and I've never been drunk or even buzzed in my life. I'm also 6'6" and 360 pounds though.

You are more social in that you are more outgoing, or feel more comfortable in a social setting? Or do you think you have better skills? If the later is that opinion shared by the people around you? What are you basing it off of, what metrics?

The social skills an AS adult I know that I've seen drink a few times degrade very quickly. He's undiagnosed and presents fairly "mild" in that over the years he has built up an OK NT face over the ASC. But that veneer evapourates within one or two drinks, the "weirdness" comes blazing through. I think it shows just how hard he works to maintain his social graces.

Last edited by DwightF on 20 Dec 2008, 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.