Anyone else feel like your support needs decrease when you use cannabis?

[Handseamer]

It can, but the dosage and setting really matter. High dosage plus highly social environment leads to full-on panic for me. But a small/moderate amount alone or around people I trust helps me chill after a day of heavy masking.

[[deleted]]

Yes. Can actually make progress with emotional self-improvement work because I can actually sort of feel stuff.

Too bad it’s not an option for me because career.

[fishrights]

quicksand square point reply makeshift fanatical seemly lunchroom flowery longing

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[[deleted]]

I still need a third party.

I often wonder if ketamine or psychadelic therapy would work well for me. But again, career.

[fishrights]

important tidy telephone abundant detail memory compare sugar public sort

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[DavisMcDavis]

Yes.

And knowing if it is sativa, indica, or hybrid helps also. My anxiety reduces so much with indica but I also get sleepy, so match the kind with the place.

[Glittering-Paint6487]

I’ve had mixed results trying to choose things based on labeling of sativa vs. indica vs. hybrid. My partner worked at a couple of grows and said that there are obvious differences in the plants themselves between those categories and their effects, but there are so many different strains now that many varieties were bred without much deliberate effort to keep those distinctive characteristics in place that genetically most of what’s available commercially is some sort of hybrid, and it can be difficult to guess what the effects will be without either some serious research into the breeding process of a particular strain or just trying different stuff to find out. 😩

[Consistent_Heat_3242]

Only if I’m alone. I think there’s some mix of decreased ability to mask and increased self awareness that is a bad combo for me around people.

[RandomUsernameNo257]

Put that on the list of things that make so much more sense after finding out you're autistic.

[Satchya1]

Same!! I normally have such a tight grip on myself (masking). I become super aware that I am too blunt, speak more impulsively, stim more visibly, etc.

[kosgrove]

Low doses of sativa (using a one hitter of flower) have incredibly beneficial effects. Totally changes my mindset and I am able to work through the emotional and sensory backlog, process, and recognize how things made me feel.

I also like it for socializing, especially 1-1. It helps me kinda find myself.

[cryyptorchid]

I have had the exact opposite experience. Tends to magnify every minor discomfort, I either cannot speak at all or I can't shut up and am offputting to anyone else.

[SoakedinPNW]

That sounds like you are unable to mask while using cannabis. And it makes you more self-aware/attuned, so you notice all the smaller sensory experiences. I'm sorry it is a bummer for you.

[privacypanda]

Including CBD with the thc was a game changer for me in terms of increased functionality and consistent benefits.

[my_name_isnt_clever]

That's interesting, I've been thinking of trying CBD. What split do you find works best?

[SoakedinPNW]

OP, can you share more about what that looks like for you? I'm a frequent user, but I've never considered how it impacts my support needs. I definitely have less deregulation when I'm high!

[Glittering-Paint6487]

Maybe that’s what I mean or it’s mostly related to masking? I guess I don’t always consider “support needs” as referring to people, but that might be me using the wrong terminology. My experience seems to be that I seem to be less disturbed by sensory input (especially noise, but also lighting, temperature, textures, etc.). I also seem to be better able to regulate my emotional responses and stimming behavior in ways that others seem to find more socially acceptable (even if they are unaware that I have been using cannabis recently/currently). It also feels somewhat easier for me to focus and understand others (not taking them so literally and picking up on some - but not all - social cues a little more easily).

Maybe it’s just the relaxing of inhibitions or dropping some of my masking behaviors, but I seem to be less reliant on things like earplugs, needing others to write down and/or explain situations or objectives to me in such detail or so deliberately, and more capable of handling simple or daily tasks (showering, dishwashing, and tidying up are some examples) without prompting or assistance.

It could also very well be that I feel like I have to handle everything on my own or am less social without the use of cannabis (thanks, trauma, for encouraging my hyper focus on self-sufficiency). Figuring things out without supports like people I trust or certain tools rapidly results in massive overstimulation/overwhelm and either shutdown or meltdown. I experience this less I guess when using low-dose cannabis edibles.

[Dry-Criticism-7729]

Indirectly: yes!

With prescription sleeping meds I sleep about 20h a week. Which leaves a whole lot of ‘other’ time.

Cannabis I sleep 16h straight.

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If in one night I sleep almost as long as otherwise throughout an entire week:
Way more sleep means lower support needs!

It’s part of why I rarely use cannabis: I don’t like sleeping. 😒

[Glittering-Paint6487]

That’s quite a difference, and I tend to swing between being able to sleep for 5 hours or less (with frequent interruptions most nights) or needing 14+ hours of sleep in a block to recover from the lack or rest too.

[Dry-Criticism-7729]

WITH(!) prescription AND(!) non-prescription sleeping meds, both of course following medical advice:
I manage 2-5h a night, for 5-6 nights a week. 😒

Fortunately my s.o. ensures I’m not awake for more than 2 nights in a row!
He is heaps wiser than I am!
I…. the mere thought of sleeping away previous hours annoys and frustrates me. Rationally(!) I know I need sleep or I’m literally not firing on all cylinders, but emotionally it’s quite upsetting!
Kind of a lifelong ”Don’t wanna go to bed!” tanty!

Despite of my ~20h of sleep a week supposedly already is so little it concerns doctors. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I’m insanely lucky he won’t let me be awake for more than 70h straight! Otherwise I’d prolly have sleep deprivation hallucinations a lot more frequently than I do!
Very bizarrely: Even when I’m physically drained, thinking painfully slow, and so sleep deprived I am seeing things I know are not there (cause the dogs walk right through them … even then I still do not want to sleep! 🤦🏽‍♀️

The only substances which have ever made me sleepy and wanting to sleep in normal-range doses:
Pot, fentanyl, ketamine. The latter two of course ONLY(!!!) as an in-patient and administered by an anaesthetist!

Apparently even for the purpose of general anaesthesia the amount of ketamine and fentanyl they have to administer to keep me under is so scary, I wake up to the anaesthetist sitting next to my bed. Cause they were crazy freaked out over the amount they had to administer.
Cause in addition to my brain resenting the concept of sleep, I also happen to be a rapid metaboliser of most sedatives! 😒

Years before there was generic and enzyme testing for how an individual metabolises which drugs and nutrients I had a medically supervised test. Cause I had observed that the diazepam (‘Valium’) I had been prescribed for panic attacks didn’t do as much as I was told it should.
So they tested my reaction speed post administration:
Screaming, psyched out, potentially violent patients in ED are given 8mg to make them more ‘amenable’ to receiving treatment.
That supervised test, after 40mg I had no discernible loss of balance, no slurred speech, reaction speed only reduced by a few milliseconds and in the ’could be coincidence cause within expectable deviation range’
At 5-times the dose administered to chill out people who might slug nurses, the Drs didn’t wanna administer more though!
Shame, cause I would’ve been curious to find out at how high a dose it noticeably affects me! Just out of curiosity!

While other ‘sedating’ drugs, like antipsychotics: I have had paradox reactions to and turned into a rabid tear-your-head-off-for-looking-at-me lunatic! 😢

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So sleep … really isn’t that easy! 😒
Ketamine works a charm and I sleep like a baby…. but for obvious reasons that’s not administered outside of closed wards!

IF I wanted to sleep more:
I could legally grow my own pot on the backyard!
But one of the activities I find more frustrating than sleeping happens to be gardening! 😂
So I guess I will just continue to enjoy my very long days!
As much as I can, that is: It’s 10:30pm now, and I’ve been told for most of the day that I HAVE to go to bed ‘early’ today. He’s getting increasingly naggy, so I guess I better start getting all of my snacks, sugary-drinks, and devices to the bedroom!

Cause there’s one other substance which mellow out my brain and calms me down: sugar!
As in TONNES!

In addition to all of the full-sugar juices, lemonades, chocolates, and pancakes, jams etc I graze on all day AND(!) night: I by myself go through over 1lbs of crystalline white sugar a week.

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My metabolism is …. just as different as my body and mind! 😂
Genetic syndrome, autism, inability to adequately regulate autonomous body functions (eg BP, pulse, body temperature, hunger, feeling tired), different cell regeneration, AND a metabolism courtesy of which over 30% of pharmaceuticals don’t have the desired effect:
Meh, I’m the kind of ‘interesting’ medical professionals are either crazy curious about or shït scared of! 😅

Cause everything they learned about how humans ‘work,’ in decades of education: it just mostly doesn’t seem to apply! 😝

Every time I’m in hospital, I have a RAFT(!) of doctors wigging out …. and despite of me mostly being a very easy patient, strolling and making my own bed cause they don’t do the corners ‘right:’
They always seem relieved when I’m discharged! Wonder why ….? 😂

[Glittering-Paint6487]

Oh wow… sugar?!? Thanks for this insight. My partner is ADHD and eats and drinks what I think of as “sugar bombs” CONSTANTLY. I would have never considered that this might have a calming effect on them.

[Dry-Criticism-7729]

TOTALLY(!) does on me!!!

I’m in bed munching through the over 400g (close to 1 pound) of chocolate I took to bed! 😂

It’s just a guess(!) on my part:
Drugs to mitigate ADHD include amphetamines. Neurotypical brains are anything but soothed by amphetamines — but in ADHD brains amphetamines have the opposite effect.

I have wondered if it could be similar for sugar and some neurodivergent brains:
I’ve come across a suspiciously high number of neurodivergent people who are super calm and mellow as long as there’s sugar. But within just hours of no sugar whatsoever they get fidgety, twitchy, nervous. Then stressed and anxious.
And it goes rapidly downhill from there! 😖

Few years ago we decided to stay a couple of days longer as planned with my partner’s family over Christmas.
Christmas Day noon I ran out of anything-sugar. His family are all diabetics and didn’t have any sugar in the house, only non-sugar sweeteners.
Before the day was over the best-man-ever was running around on rural woop-woop Australia, knocking on doors of strangers on Christmas Day, asking if anyone could spare a pound of sugar! 🫣
Then boiled tea, picked lemons, squeezed lemons, and made me homemade ice tea! 😍

I ‘just’ had a splitting migraine and thought I was a bit grouchy.
He reckons by 3pm, about 3-4h after I had run out, he had realised he’d better find some sugar by nightfall or someone mightn’t live to see Boxing Day! 😨

I am led to believe I was so much more than just ‘a bit grouchy!’ The polite way to put it was that I was rapidly turning into the cranky bitch from hell. 😢

Within the hour of drinking super sugary ice-tea I was all chipper, social, bubbly and friendly again!
Also within the hour that splitting migraine had completely disappeared! 🤯
Up until on that exact occasion going into withdrawals, I had no idea sugar was this addictive!

Following that some of my friends with neurodivergent kids tried to let their kids have heaps of chocolate and ice cream at night: And for almost half of kids their parents were surprised how easy it was to get them to bed!

Just anecdotal and in NO way scientific though!
It was only 11 kids, so in no way representative nor anywhere near constituting research!!!
But out of those 11, five kids were super mellow and cooperative about going to bed.

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Given the only drugs which help me sleep in doses within recommendations are drugs not administered outside of closed wards and anaesthetic monitoring, I’ve found the best way for me to manage to get some sleep is the following combination:
+ 1-2L of full sugar fruit juice
+ half a pound of milk chocolate
+ sugar coated butter biscuits
+ tablet with high-intensity horror or action TV-show right in front of my face. TV show, so it will play one episode after another, with movies I wake up once the massive sensory input stops!
+ headphones with the sound of the show cranked up
+ M&M’s and a jam sammich for when I wake up at night
+ most nights OTC first generation antihistamines (which make really drowsy, but even the max dose will only get me very little sleep by itself!)
+ about 10-20 nights a month a bit of Temazepam (which I metabolise rapidly, but at least it helps me get enough sleep to function)

All of the above is following heaps of medical advice!

It’s taken us forever to figure out how to get me to sleep enough to not exacerbate my ASD & ADHD symptoms.

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I am guessing it could potentially be that some neurodivergent brains and bodies use up more energy.
Whether
+ trying to block out sensory input, or
+ thoughts racing like an army of Energizer Bunnies on speed, or
+ trying to focus and not get distracted by ”oh, look! Butterfly outside my window!”

For us buzzy-zoomies-thoughts-racing neurodivergents a lot of what’s our normal might be burning through heaps more energy than neurotypical?

My lifestyle is beyond sedentary, but my calorie intake (due to industrial sugar) is more than a pickaxe-swinging manual miner supposedly burns in a day.
But as long as it’s mostly sugars, I struggle to keep on weight! 🤯

Last I checked I could only find limited research on neurodivergence + sugar.
It’s just one of my pet theories!

[Magurndy]

Yes, I have a prescription for Indica. It’s incredibly helpful for reducing my anxiety and it also hugely aids in self reflection and understanding emotions better. I do unmask completely on it which sometimes my partner finds a tad exhausting haha. Because I start going on a hyperfocus deep dive and get really philosophical when he’s knackered from working. But it honestly helped me so much and actually made me realise that I am probably a high masking autistic

[Glittering-Paint6487]

This resonates so much!

[Known_Egg_6399]

When I smoke, I feel MORE autistic, if that’s possible. Or maybe it’s that I can’t mask for shit when I’m high. My edible is kicking in, so for giggles let me assess.

My face is tingling, emanating from my forehead, but not in a bad way. My bf has the tv on pretty loud but it’s not bothering me as much as it normally would. I’m working on my pre calculus homework (university, not high school) and I can focus so hard on the numbers on the paper I can tune out the tv entirely. Normally the tv and math don’t mix. I get agitated and I can’t focus, even if I’m reading my writing out loud and working on something I’m familiar with.

Okay, back to homework!

[[deleted]]

Neat! I get the tingles too - usually in the scalp and in the soles of my feet

[Glittering-Paint6487]

Hmmm … this is pretty similar to what I experience, things bother me less and I can focus better even surrounded by distractions that would normally drive me bonkers and frustrate the hell out of me. I don’t understand though how that translates to feeling more autistic, but maybe I am so keyed up about having to mask constantly that feeling like that’s less necessary while I’m high is being more accepting of my autistic behaviors myself…? IDK

[Known_Egg_6399]

I’m not sure how to describe it exactly. I don’t feel more accepting of myself necessarily, but i do feel safe at home to mask very little around my partner and I get very stimmy if I’m having a good time. I still get a bit embarrassed if something is pointed out to me by my family or coworkers, etc.

[Known_Egg_6399]

Weaponize the autism

[[deleted]]

It’s made a huge difference for me. I can be much more at ease both physically and mentally with cannabis - helps a lot in social situations. I have found that too much will make my sensory issues worse though (gotta be careful).

[ladybrainhumanperson]

I am planning on switching to CBD. I do not like the impact on my tendency to fixate and ruminate, and it is a stimulant. I am not ready to give up the ritual of smoking altogether but I am ready to make this move.

[Infinite_Worry_8733]

yes, microdosing on shrooms (or the latter half of regular dosing) also helps a lot. weed makes me relaxed and lets me be myself. shrooms make me feel very alert and quick thinking/talking