When I received my cancer diagnosis, I made a number of lifestyle changes. One of those changes was [mostly] giving up nicotine. In the past, when I had tried to quit smoking, rather than getting easier to cope day by day, life became more difficult, to the point where upon reaching the magical 3 month mark, I would go back to smoking to keep my self from blowing my brains out [ until the past couple of years, the ONLY time I ever considered suicide seriously was after not smoking a few months.] I just looked up nicotine and autism,and there seems to be a pretty huge correlation between nicotine and the more difficult aspects of being Autistic.
SInce my diagnosis, and my chemo, I have had great difficulty with EVERYTHING, except for the periods of time when I 'slipped"in not smoking. I attributed it all to chemotherapy because the changes have been HUGE.
As a child I had 7 years of selective mutism. I COULD NOT speak in school. Well, I could say "excuse me," "I'm sorry' and" please stop" That's it. For 7 years. I cannot remember precisely, but I am fairly certain that the selective mutism ended right after I started smoking. And it was a profound and abrupt change [ I have ADHD and am not an inyrovert, which I was not aware of for many years]
I have also noted in Autistic gatherings that the smokers are ussually the more social and the ones more likely to succesully maintain employment. I am just starting to study this, and realize that what I have personally experienced might be coincidence. What do you all think?
08 Jun 2014, 5:45 pm
