Are there any smokers out there?

[Pats]

First - I know all the negatives and opinions on smoking and probably feel more isolated for smoking than I do for the autism. Drinking, pot and vaping is acceptable, but not smoking cigarettes. It's a habit that was developed long before it became such a horrible thing. Andy Griffith was among one of the most admired characters and he smoked and it was okay.
Anyway, I read an interesting article the other day. They have connected a mutated gene with some autism. This same mutated gene, through other studies has been connected with smoking, as in with this same mutated gene you are more likely to become addicted to nicotine. What the article was about was researching the 'stop smoking' medications in treating some autism traits.
I thought it was interesting because I took Chantix for a short time and didn't like it because it slowed my thinking and it was not comfortable for me. My mind is constantly going non stop and never slowing down and it's been that way for over 60 years. With the Chantix, my mind slowed down to an unfamiliar pace and I didn't like it. I felt like I wasn't able to focus as intently as I normally do or think as fast as I normally do, or for seconds at a time not even think at all. It makes me wonder if this is more how a neurotypical brain functions. I don't remember specifics about other traits - at the time I didn't know I was on the spectrum. But I decided I would rather smoke. Besides the change in my thinking pattern, sometimes the only enjoyable thing I'm able to do when I'm in intense pain is to smoke. I don't smoke around people and it does give me an excuse to step away from a crowd sometimes.
But while other things are becoming less discriminated against, smoking is one thing becoming more discriminated against and I don't think it's fair because now I'm expected to just suddenly change a way of life to me.

 

[Pats]

Funny, of all the possible subjects and fears and struggles - this is the one I'm most afraid to post.

 

[Bolletje]

I used to smoke heavily, but I quit last year. I miss the part you mention where it lets you step away from the crowd. I used to find parties and work more tolerable when I had an excuse to nip away whenever I wanted to, or just hang out outside all night. It also gave me something to talk about with the other smokers, like it was an instant bond.
I’m slowly retraining myself to step outside in social situations when I feel like I need it even though I don’t smoke anymore, but that’s straying offtopic.

 

[Autistamatic]

I used to smoke until about 5 years ago and it was the hardest thing to give up in my whole life. Nothing else came close.

 

[Progster]

They have connected a mutated gene with some autism. This same mutated gene, through other studies has been connected with smoking, as in with this same mutated gene you are more likely to become addicted to nicotine.

Do you have a link? This, assuming that it is true, makes me all the more glad that I don't smoke, never have done, never even been tempted out of curiosity.

Wanting to smoke is one thing I have never experienced, and can't relate to at all. Where on Earth did the idea come from? Why would anyone want to inhale burning plant matter into their lungs? It makes no sense, especially now that we are aware of its really nasty potential side effects such as lung cancer. IMO, it's one thing the world could do without.

Each person's health, and what lifestyle choices people make, what people do in their own homes or in private, what habits they have or what substances they (ab)use, is of course their own responsibility and their business and not mine, but I am very sensitive to tobacco smoke, particularly cigarette smoke, and I don't want it around me or in my personal space/environment, so I really object to people smoking in public spaces, and in this day and age, when public knowledge of the health risks associated with passive smoking are widespread public knowledge - it's just plain selfish that some people continue to do so.

 

[Pats]

A link found between nicotine addiction and autism
A link found between nicotine addiction and autism
This might take you there. And there were other articles with other studies saying the same thing.

 

[FreeDiver]

I used to smoke until about 5 years ago and it was the hardest thing to give up in my whole life. Nothing else came close.

Ya! I've heard that smoking can be one of the hardest habits to break. Glad I never got the habit. Here in Washington state. Cigarettes cost over $8 a pack. Way more money then I want to spend.

 

[OlLiE]

personally as an adult, i don't understand the benefit of cigarettes and definitely not weed

i was a smoker, but decided to stop when i hit 30, and stopped without any aids

on the one hand people are free to do as they like as long as it is legal

on the other hand if someone chooses to smoke, then they should be made to assume the consequences through higher insurance premiums that reflect their personal choice to consciously damage their own health

if a person makes a conscious decision to damage their health,
then they should be made to take the consequences financial and other

otherwise they are acting like bankers, they want to have the fun in the short run, but when it goes wrong they think everyone else should pay to fix it

 

[Nihil]

 

[Tom]

I smoked 40 years. Quit using patch for extended period (1 year) but was miserable. Switched to e-cigerette, and once I got used to it am satisfied and nicotine use level is probably 20% or less of what it was. Have been on that about 1 year. But I just use top of the line manufacturer, and standard flavor. The low end stuff (china) and flavored mixes just introduce more toxic substances back in.

 

[Major Tom]

Yes unfortunately I smoke. I've tried to quit more times than I can count with no luck. I did the Chantix or whatever it's called and had very bad nightmares and suicidal urges. Later I saw an advertisement for it and one of the side effects was straight up death... I did manage to quit for about 6 months with it, but as soon as the stress levels went back up, I went back to my old friend tobacco.

 

[Autistamatic]

It was vaping that did it for me too along with quite a few people I know. Where I work there are about 300 people and the vapers now outnumber the smokers. Most of them are on very low or nic-free eliquid too. According to blood studies done in the UK it requires eliquid of 45mg (4.5%) to achieve the same nicotine "hit" as an average cigarette and 20mg is the current legal limit in Europe. Most I know are on 3-6mg.
I tried patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers, quit groups - everything except Chantix because I know what evil stuff it is - my doctor even told me they don't like prescribing it. Everything failed (or I failed if you prefer to see it that way) until I got my first ecigarette and I gave up that day. Never smoked again and now I don't miss it one bit. Saved myself a fortune too - cigs cost £8-13 a pack and a 50g (2oz) pack of the hand rolling tobacco I used to smoke is now over £21.

 

[Pats]

Yes unfortunately I smoke. I've tried to quit more times than I can count with no luck. I did the Chantix or whatever it's called and had very bad nightmares and suicidal urges. Later I saw an advertisement for it and one of the side effects was straight up death... I did manage to quit for about 6 months with it, but as soon as the stress levels went back up, I went back to my old friend tobacco.

I quit for a few months with the Chantix and didn't like the Chantix - probably would have had to take the Chantix the rest of my life to have stayed quit. It actually improved my dreams.
It was also too easy to get cigarettes when we were young. You could be a kid and say you're getting them for your dad. Cigarette machines everywhere. And as a teenager, no one cared if you smoked - even at school.

 

[Pats]

It was vaping that did it for me too along with quite a few people I know. Where I work there are about 300 people and the vapers now outnumber the smokers. Most of them are on very low or nic-free eliquid too. According to blood studies done in the UK it requires eliquid of 45mg (4.5%) to achieve the same nicotine "hit" as an average cigarette and 20mg is the current legal limit in Europe. Most I know are on 3-6mg.
I tried patches, gum, lozenges, inhalers, quit groups - everything except Chantix because I know what evil stuff it is - my doctor even told me they don't like prescribing it. Everything failed (or I failed if you prefer to see it that way) until I got my first ecigarette and I gave up that day. Never smoked again and now I don't miss it one bit. Saved myself a fortune too - cigs cost £8-13 a pack and a 50g (2oz) pack of the hand rolling tobacco I used to smoke is now over £21.

You still vape? I tried that but they all tasted like some kind of fuel to me.

 

[clg114]

I smoked from the time that I was in the Army until I was 56. That is when I had my first heart attack. I was told that the reason for the heart attack was smoking. I was also told that if I did not quit that I would be dead in 6 months. Needless to say, I quit smoking right away. It is not that hard if you have the right incentive. That was 16 years ago and I am still here. However, I will probably die sooner than I would have if I had never smoked.

 

[Mary Terry]

I used to smoke and tried all kinds of things to quit - gum, patches, classes, etc. I finally quit by eating BBQ potato chips. Whenever I felt the urge to smoke, I'd eat some chips. The strong, peppery flavor acted as a substitute for cigarettes and it helped satisfy the oral fixation of putting stuff in my mouth.

Even after all these decades of not smoking, I consider myself to be a non-smoking smoker. I still remember the pleasures of smoking. They say that quitting nicotine is harder than quitting heroin, and that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world.

 

[Autistamatic]

You'll also find mounting evidence that nicotine is not particularly addictive at all even though tobacco is. Non smokers who have tested other nicotine delivery methods - separate from tobacco - have failed to become addicted to nicotine. Using patches, gums, lozenges or vapour does not seem to create addicts. In addition, the success rates of so called "nicotine replacement therapies (NRT) are so poor it has always cast doubt on nicotine being the sole cause of addiction. People who use oral tobacco such as dip or Snus also report it to be far easier to give up than smokers. There are thousands of chemicals in tobacco smoke which may be the root of the physical addiction, but it is becoming ever more likely that nicotine is not the worst culprit. Research done recently in Harvard suggested that pyrazines added to tobacco may be exceedingly addictive in their own right.

 

[Joshua the Writer]

I won't ever smoke. I've heard stories online and in real life about trying to smoke any sort of substance for the first time and not being able to breath. Also, why would I put myself at risk of getting all sorts of diseases and cancers from it? Also, looking at my family's medical history, I have a pretty good chance of being born with only one kidney. My grandfather actually did smoke, even when he got one of his kidneys removed, damaging the other one. He only stopped for his own physical health and for me and my family's emotional health. I'm going to abstain from drinking and smoking for the entirety of life. I can't think of myself being anything but sober in the future. I'd just drink non-alcoholic versions of alcoholic beverage.

 

[Pats]

Thank you all for your replies. Those who do not smoke I would advise not to ever start. But I didn't really need the lectures (anxiety all day yesterday thank you). I already know and have heard all the negatives and how people feel about it, which is why it was so hard to post. I actually heard a non-smoker say to a smoker once that they hoped they die. A little extreme (and they were just in a debate). So many things that even the laws say everyone has to tolerate. While smoking (even in your own home away from other people) has become intolerable. There are lots of things that I don't understand why anyone would ever do, but I accept that that's what they do.
And I do and have always thought there were different types of smokers. Those who just needed something to do could easily replace it with a toothpick. I wish I were that kind of smoker so it'd be that easy. But I started smoking when I was 16 and my parents didn't even care. And suddenly it's not fine anymore. Things that used to be frowned on are now fine and things that used to be fine are now frowned on. It's not easy for someone in their 60's to make complete turn arounds.
I would never have posted anything, except I thought the article was one that other's on the spectrum might find very interesting. After reading this article I also thought about my grandmother who I am 99.9% sure she was HFA. All I ever seen her do was chain smoke and work crossword puzzles while my grandfather did all the cooking and cleaning. I used to think I took after her, and I guess I probably did. But this article made a connection and then remembering the changes in my thinking pattern while I was taking the Chantix made sense to me.
If they found that Chantix could fix some of the autism, would you take it and change who you are? I wouldn't.

 

[Autistamatic]

I hear you @Pats and you are absolutely right about the stigma and the lecturing smokers sometimes get. It's often said that ex-smokers are the most sanctimonious and I try hard not to be that person myself. I'm extremely glad to have given up and I want to be encouraging to anyone else that wants to, but I don't want to make anyone else feel wretched because they can't or don't want to quit yet.
I knew how much smoking could damage one's health even back in the 70's and I spent years trying to get my father to give up. He couldn't but I didn't understand - I thought he didn't want to, didn't care how much it frustrated me, and I started myself in young teenage in an effort to leverage him into giving up. I naively thought that he would be so shocked to see me smoking he would want to give up himself and it would draw us closer together as we quit as father & son. Needless to say it didn't work - I just ended up with a habit that took me decades to break. He ended up with heart disease and bypass operations.
I think a lot of people feel justified in their condemnation because passive smoking is unpleasant and carries some health risk. If a smoker is keeping themselves to themselves when they smoke, nobody has the right to condemn. They may call you all kinds of stupid if they wish, but that is their opinion and usually doesn't bear any relation to the reasons or the social conditions under which you started smoking, nor why you may be unwilling or unable to stop.