alchohol and mentldowns

[Voltaic]

i try to avoid alchohol. first off, i dont even like the taste. thye syay it is a acquired taste, but that means i have to keep drinking something i dont like until i like it. second, it is a faster one way ticket to a meltown than a caffeined up squirrel.

im wondering if this is a common thing for people on the spectrum. i can imagine that alchohol makes someone more prone to meltdowns, but i dont know if it straight up causes meltdowns as persistantly as it does for me.

what’s your experiance with it?

 

[Judge]

I'm inclined to think that how people handle alcohol for better or worse is more indicative of their individual metabolisms. The ability of their bodies to chemically break down alcohol- or not. Often compounded by considerations of sugar content.

I can't say I ever experienced the oncoming of a meltdown- let alone a shutdown when drinking a great deal of alcohol. For me it consistently helped with social anxiety. Especially during my college years.

Though at my age I seldom drink any more given issues with reflux. Ingesting alcohol on an empty stomach sets me up for disaster if I should later attempt to eat certain spicy, fatty or greasy foods that so easily "trigger" my reflux.

Though I still enjoy an occasional swig or two of Jamesons or Jack Daniels. Acquired tastes, of course.

 

[kay]

No meltdowns, but I get dizzy from a mere half bottle of IPA so I guess my inner ear is extra sensitive. Also got a bit huggy after two bottles on no sleep. I no longer drink though because it seems to be not worth the risk. That stuff can cause so many problems and grapefruit juice is cheaper and tastier. My drinking was limited and short lived but the place I was most likely to drink was the cause of quite a few shutdowns, meltdowns, ect. Didn't matter what I drank, tea or beer.

 

[Sozdatelniza]

I've never been drunk yet. Not just because I'm too young to drink alcohol but also I don't need it.

Alcohol tastes far more disgusting than cactus juice for me. Furthermore I don't want to ruin my brain and liver.

 

[Bolletje]

Alcohol makes me more sociable and less prone to meltdowns. However, hangovers definitely make a meltdown more likely.

 

[tree]

A person's blood sugar would be affected by using alcohol.
Up and then down.

Dropping blood sugar or low blood sugar, either one, could
make a person more susceptible to irritation/anger/sadness...etc.

 

[Iamnotarabot]

Last year I organized a litte year end party with my closest friend.
I had pressure to organize it , it went well but not as well as i wanted to i wasnt realy enjoying the moment except for one particular game we played. I Also drank, well not very much , but still .

Then everyone left except one friend who stayed to sleep and the other left.

I felt extremely sad because i wanted them to sleep in the house and I prepared things for that, and i dont know if it's because it didnt go according to plan but when they left for half a hour I cried so much, I had to hide from the last person in the house ( sleeping at that moment) , I was crying so much that my face was distorted.

Is this what we call an autistic meltdown? I mean , my friends didnt told me they would all sleep there , i just prepared it for them but i was expecting them to do so, i dont blame them for that but at the moment i was so sad.

So, is this is a meltdown maybe alcohool helped ?



Now i remember I had the same problem at a party one day because the bouncers messed with us they didnt want to let some of our friends back in the "club" and i was so pissed off but instead of being simply angry i lost my nerves and cried like a baby :s .


This time also i had drunk but here again, not so much.

So maybe this helped but the fact that parties when people drink are also during night time so you are more tired and for an autistic people this is often organised in a stressfull environnement, so everything combined may help trigger it?

I insist on saying that in those 2 particular situation i drank but realy not as much as i was used to. Like just few drinks ( well maybe more ofc i couldnt drive but you get the idea like 2 beers some champagne and one cocktail)

 

[AnnadinNoliman]

Alcohol generally does help me get comfortable in a space, for me it kind of dulls my senses and makes my head feel funny so I generally can handle louder sounds and more people when I'm inebriated. I don't think it sets me up to meltdown, but I've had my fair share of alcohol themed meltdowns. After a certain level of drunk it becomes a lot harder for me to speak and think critically, and that can really freak me out. I generally do little math games with myself all the time to occupy my brain but when I'm inebriated it gets a lot harder to do and if I find I can't figure a math problem out I almost immediately start having a meltdown.
But most of the time I surround myself with people that look out for signs that I'm heading down a bad road and they know what settings to get me in to calm me down, I think alcohol can be fun but you need to make sure you trust the people around you.
So I guess for me it helps with some things and hurts with others, I always need to think hard about if I can handle those changes before going into it, but generally it's a good time for me.

 

[James Hardy]

well lets just say im an aspy that is rely good at not feeling emoting. if i drink that dose not matter i begin to vent the emotions that i dont alow to reach my consonance, second as an aspy i have very bad anxiety(infarct the other day i was sent home from work because my supervise thought i had a mild heart attack when it was just a anxiety attack.) the only thing that helps with my anxiety is drinking.... so its a double egged sword.

 

[Progster]

Alcohol just causes me to to go all kind of dreamy, feel tired and then shut down. I don't find that it makes me feel more sociable or confident.

 

[Major Tom]

I feel good while drinking, afterwards my anxiety sky rockets. Definitely a 2 edged sword.

 

[pjcnet]

As well as it's other effects, alcohol tends to exaggerate your current mood, if you are feeling depressed you may feel more depressed, if you are feeling good, you may feel better. It can also reduce your ability to control your emotions, so for some autistic people the chance of having a meltdown could be higher when they drink. It does depend on the individual person however because alcohol effects different people in different ways and the typical causes of that person's meltdowns can be an important factor too. Many people are more relaxed after a drink and an autistic person may for instance feel more comfortable in a busy and noisy room than they would normally, if this is a particular issue that causes meltdowns for that individual, then alcohol could reduce the chances of having one.

I've never been an alcoholic because I've always been able to do without it, but like most adults I've had times where I've drunk far too much, I however don't drink alcohol at all any more and haven't done for over 15 years. When I did drink it relaxed me most of the time and gave me more confidence, although this wasn't always a good thing because it also put me in more danger and I'd be even more prone to upsetting NTs without realising it, but if I was feeling particularly depressed alcohol would only make me feel worse and would probably make me make a fool of myself. Overall however I've had good and bad experiences of alcohol, I've had a couple of meltdowns on alcohol, but it never really increased the risk for myself personally because the good and bad effects seemed to balance out overall.

For most people alcohol is okay in moderation, but obviously it can become very detrimental for some people, especially if they become physically addicted to it, if that happens to an autistic person the whole awful experience of being an alcoholic would in my opinion increase the chances of having meltdowns as the person generally goes downhill. Severe alcohol addiction can in some ways be even worse than heroin addiction because even though a heroin withdrawal is one of the worst experiences anyone could ever go through, it barely ever directly causes death even though the person often feels like it will, severe alcohol withdrawal can literally kill however and is extremely dangerous.

 

[Theta.G]

My experience with alcohol was largely positive. Although it was self medicating it worked. Half a decade later since quitting still trying to deal with numerous health issues that the system thinks their magical death pills could fix when they just make things much worse and also create new (permanent) health issues.

Alcohol would have been a slower one way ticket... drugs are a way faster one way ticket, for me at least.

Following up pcjnet's last paragraph, i can confirm that alcohol withdrawal is a nasty experience. Scaled down slowly. 4-5 drink per day max...3 drink per day max... a month later 2 per day max... a month after that 1 per day max... then when it came time to quit was still getting hallucinations and probably some seizures. Weed helped curb the insanity of it all, then once the alcohol withdrawal got passed the hardest point, dropped the weed easily since it's only mentally addictive.

 

[Tom]

My meltdowns are rare. Never associated it with drinking. Gave up drinking in early 20s. Good riddance.

 

[Lichi]

Alcohol to me works great in the sense that I can get away with more by being me and blame it on the alcohol. I generally experienced meltdowns while sobering up and too many people around me.

Weed on the other hands sends me straight to paranoia and panic attacks. It makes me super aware of myself and question if I’m able to understand other people and if they understand me, what does this facial expression mean etc. at that point I just want to withdraw.