ASD and addiction

[QuestJan]

I was in a car accident in 2017 resulting in a minor Spondylolisthesis that caused severe sciatica. Three years later I finally had the surgery (a roaring success!), which carried another year of restrictions.

The only way I survived was a toke or so every day. 4 years later, I am successfully recovered yet still toking. I want to stop yet I don't. Life has become so boring, I don't know what else to do.

What would you call this situation?

 

[Skittlebisquit]

It's a good question. I'm not an expert. I would ask myself how important is it, how often is it used, does usage escalate in dosing or frequency. And does it interfere with the rest of your life?

My opinion is that its harmless in a general sense, but please dont drive impaired!

It's legal where I live, but employers are still allowed to discriminate, ie pre employment drug screens. Lately many employers advertise that they dont test for thc

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

Alcohol is legal in most jurisdictions too , I would not read to much into this.

 

[SDRSpark]

I havent used hard street drugs in many years, but still start falling apart at the seams when my methadone isnt around. Almost no addiction help really caters towards ASD people, and the treatment for normies doesnt always apply to me/ASD. Unfortunately, most treatment centers apply one-size-fits-all methods, sayings like "you're not special; NA worked for me so it can work for you" are legimitately the entire core of their belief system. It's weird

12 step programs are...not a good thing, in my opinion. A lot of people believe in them (I'm not here to debate that) but there are other treatment options available which are actually backed by science and will likely work better for you - I'd encourage you to seek them out. AA/NA got themselves into the public consciousness and the legal system as the one and only way to get clean/sober but they're NOT the only thing out there by a long shot. If it doesn't work for you (it doesn't work for a lot of people) find something else.

It's common (not good, but common) for autistic people (maybe especially undiagnosed autistic people) to self-medicate with drugs. You're definitely not alone in this one.

I seem to have the opposite thing going on - my lack of being in touch with my body seems to shield me from chemical dependency (it might be the one good thing it does lol!) - I don't notice withdrawal symptoms, if I ever have them, and I don't make the connection between, for instance, not drinking, and feeling bad (I just assume that I caught a cold or something, and never think "oh, I need to have a drink to stop this"). I've gone long stretches of having several drinks a day, followed by losing interest entirely and quitting cold turkey for long stretches...repeatedly. I've never really had an interest in anything else (except pot, which I also just up and quit one day). The one time I took opiates after surgery I noticed that I was waking up feeling extremely grumpy and thought that maybe the opiates had something to do with that, so I didn't finish the prescription. I did have less anxiety after taking it, but I woke up the next day in the worst mood ever.

 

[Magna]

I was in a car accident in 2017 resulting in a minor Spondylolisthesis that caused severe sciatica. Three years later I finally had the surgery (a roaring success!), which carried another year of restrictions.

The only way I survived was a toke or so every day. 4 years later, I am successfully recovered yet still toking. I want to stop yet I don't. Life has become so boring, I don't know what else to do.

What would you call this situation?

It's hard to say. Perhaps it's just a habit that you've developed and like you said, you're indulging out of boredom more than anything else.

It is a fact, however, that marijuana can cause a severe psychological addiction in some people. Marijuana addiction is often dismissed, discounted or disbelieved with the argument being that it's not physically addicting like opioids and other physically addictive drugs are, so "it's not really addictive". This is false for people that can/do become psychologically addicted to it.

Psychological addictions can deeply impact/"ruin" a person's life. People with porn and gambling addictions can attest to this. A person with an addiction to marijuana can crave the drug as often as physically addictive drugs. Although there isn't a physical withdrawal, the desire for the drug can be all consuming.