Hey guys so let's talk about alcohol and ASD. — Scope | Disability forum
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Hey guys so let's talk about alcohol and ASD.

H25
H25 Community member Posts: 31 Connected
So I don't drink to often. But when I do there is no off switch. I binge and I become somewhat unpleasant to be around. 
Obnoxious, unfriendly and generally a bit of a monster. Now obviously I don't really like who I become and the depression I feel for several weeks after is utter hell. Now this is something that has happened a few times and im just wondering if anyone else gets like this. 
Now I'm not blaming ASD For my behaviour but I'm trying to understand if their is any kind of connection. Why do I somehow undo all the hard work I put into to being a responsible young man as soon as I drink. Am I just consuming to much alcohol or is it that alcohol and ASD are a rather volitile coktail. And I should just bite the bullet and live a life sobriety. 

Comments

  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    @H25
    You are so so right to be bringing this up I think :)

    I have an ASD Aspergers diagnosis.

    To be brief, I would have to say that my relationship with alcohol has been a complex, long and troubling one.

    Boozed up feeling like somthing close to the "brown bottle" from "Viz". I have self medicated with fermentation juice for many years.  I no longer imbibe.  At the moment I've been on the waggon since New Year with the exception of a bottle of wine about two weeks ago.

    At one particularly low point when I finally realised my relationship with alcohol wasnt the "great mates" experience that I had come to believe in since my teens , I asked my GP to refer me to the alcohol CPN.  I didnt have an Aspergers diagnosis then and they just told me that I was a "problem drinker". Whatever the hell that means?

    Problem drinker?  Hmmm....   Well at keast I wasnt alcoholic.   I suppose I had to be thankful of that.  

    I'm aware that there are books on the relationship between those with Aspergers and Alcohol.  Perhaps one day I will read this material, unfortunately Im just comming out the other side of living it..  Hopefully after I get around to finishing and reviewing the book SCOPE loaned me recently (Aspertools .  Reitman 2014). I might have a read.

    From one Alconaught (I think I my have just coined a phrase) to another, my conclusion,  after much sobre deliberation is that the late Great David Bowies Lyric "my mother said to get things done, better not mess with Major Tom",  was actually advice written to Aspergic Alconaughts!  Frankly I'm a lot less alconaughty now that I'm an Alconought!   Enough of this inner space oddessy though.  

    Even if I dont manage to stay off the booze indefinately,  my new aproach to policing my relationship with the demon drink has enabled me to tackle life without the pickled depressive haze clouding everything I think and do.

    Abstinence, in my case has certainly made the art grow stronger.  I feel more creative (paradoxically?  I was often led to believed that drink fueled the creative mind).  There is a strange emptiness,  a bit like losing a friend?  Interestingly though sobriety has been that quiet friend that I rarely bothered with but Im beggining to realise is actually Okay.  You know,  deeper and funnier than I thought.  I wish Id given him a chance years ago.  Im actually enjoying getting to know him.

    I would heartily recomend the transition from Alconaut to Alconought.... If even for a period of reflection and respite...  Give your sober self a chance :)  you will also save yourself a few £ and develop a new interest in Robinsons or, to be fair supermarket home brand high juice.  I recommend apple and elderflower from the Coop.
  • H25
    H25 Community member Posts: 31 Connected
    Thanks man I'm not sure I can say it's good I'm not the only one. Because there is nothing good about it. But I am glad someone was able to relate to it. 
    It almost feels as if I'm a child again with autism when I drink. All anger and anxiety. It's like I become the troubled teen who was hated at school. The difference is. No one  cares about you at a bar and I'm likely to get into some very dangerous situations. 
    I know what I have to do. I need to turn my back on it all together. I'm lucky enough to not be an alcoholic I have need to drink and can go for months without drinking. My issue is there is no control of my consumption and I binge. And that's when the issues appear.

  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    @H25
    its almost impossible for any sensetive, intelligent sentient individual not to be frustrated and angry in the world today.

    ignorance is as the saying goes truly "bliss".  I am sure of that, yes I am.

    Alcohol is a great leveler.  It turns everybody into somone or somthing else.  Unfortunately the hope of the consumer is that its turning thier world into somthing else.

    there is always danger.  With alcohol the risk of danger is increased.  There is no doubt about that.

    for those who like alcohol.  The effect of it on the body and the mind, I count myself as one of those people, there is even greater risk of danger.  

    Aspergers,  I am certain, is probably one of the worst bedfellows for alcohol.  


  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    @VioletFenn I wondered what your thoughts are on this?
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • lonewarrior
    lonewarrior Community member Posts: 23 Connected
    edited June 2017
    Hi bendigedig I really enjoy your turn of phrase, ever thought of writing for a living? I normally speed read and if I really want to digest the information I read the sentence several times, however I find your descriptive and imaginative way sticks in my mind instantly, very melodic.  
    Anyway regarding alcohol I don't find a need to dull my senses! Strange statement I know but drink makes me very outspoken and I talk talk talk, I do enjoy some drink but the feeling as it takes effect freaks me out, I really need to be in a safe situation and happy. Oh by the way I haven't been diagnosed with ASD or anything else but strongly believe I am.
    One outside influence to my thoughts on drink is seeing the bad side of it. My father liked drinking and spent a lot of time with his buddies and would come home drunk and there would be the usual shouting match with mum, we had very little in the way of food or clothes but there always seemed enough for a mates nite out.

    I have witnessed men I know totally drunk and to me they seem"broken" not able to make sense and generally useless.
     I class my self as a watcher of people! Meaning I don't join in but it feels like watching tv?.If I were drunk I might miss something or something out of my control may happen!
    @H25 I think as you have come here to ask this question you kind of understand your limits,which is great, a very good question and worthy of discussion, I to am trying to understand what makes (us)tick.
    I seem to have a strange connection with music.i cannot play a note but find myself overwhelmed with emotion,even tearful at 1 ability of the musician.2 the meaning of feeling of it.it need not be sad to bring a tear to my eye. Take care all.

Brightness