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Autism/Anxiety-Specific Habits/Strange Behaviors

F

forowls

Lady
I have always wondered if other folk with Asperger's Syndrome exhibit any strange or erratic behaviors/habits, and if any, they are omnipresent specific trends or patterns. I also think it would be a fun discussion topic, because I am fascinated by the human psyche.

As I mentioned in another thread, I have to eat with chopsticks or plastic ware because most metal utensils when touched to my tongue send this almost electrical feeling that is beyond unbearable through my gums and it resonates between my teeth and even thinking about it gives me the heebiejeebies.

Also, when I get anxious, I bite the inside of my thumb or pick the skin off my lips or shake my leg until the apartment vibrates. Also, if I'm listening to music in the car I will use my "gas" foot to tap the beat of the drum until my passenger tells me it's affecting my acceleration.

If I order or make a sandwich, I eat the inside part first like a salad and then eat the bread.

There are others, but I want to know what you guys do! Let me know in the comments below.

<3
 
I bite my nails when I am thinking hard. I like the feeling of snapping skin: Squeezing skin together and letting it go. My ex hates it but I do it unconsciously to self and her, usually when I am relaxed. I check door and windows multiple times whenever leaving my house. I like chopping food into tiny pieces, it is the only moment that I feel completely focused these days and that makes me feel peaceful.
 
I fidget, foot tapping, wriggling my toes.

Also rub my thumb and first finger together quite a lot. find it comforting. ...
 
When I am agitated I shake my legs so much that indeed it seems that my whole body is shaking and also when I am touched by someone's words to me and strangely enough, I read over and over again, because it is fascinating to me that someone is saying something nice to me.

Don't think I have any strange eating habits. I do however find I must show the correct side of a packaging, when I put it back in the cupboard and even have walked away saying that it really does not matter, but nope, I have to go back and turn the tin or something around, so it is facing the right way.

I have two racks that hold cups and we have 3 metalic type blue and 3 of red and I arrange them in such a way as none can be facing in the same direction.

When I wash up, I put all utensils that I consider to be "casual, every day" ones, in one compartment and all the "special" ones in another, but really it is all very practical, because when I pick them up to put away, I am not walking hither and tither to put things away and my draws are very well arranged.

I am fastidious with my oven and it gets cleaned every time I use it; in fact I love my oven, because it is waste high and thus easy to clean.

I have a plastic holder that has many different colour kitchen cloths and actually, I feel really unsettled because I do not have red amongst them and anyone who dares to use these cloths for anything else, will wish they hadn't hehehehe
 
Shaking my legs and feet, foot tapping, particularly my right leg and foot. Sucking my thumb. Nail biting. Stroking my ears, especially when they are cold.

My bookcases, kitchen and bathroom cupboards, and other storage cupboards are as organised as possible and I periodically do a full clean out. I find it harder to reorganise something when someone else has messed it up or changed things from my system of organisation.
 
I shake my leg pretty violently when I'm anxious or stressed. I also chew my bottom lip and peel off the patches of dead lip. I guess those count as stims. If I'm having a particularly bad week, my lips make me look like a crackhead.

I also wear pretty much the same thing every day. Not the same clothes, but I own multiple sets of the same clothes. Basically I dress like a thug and nobody screws with me so I figure why mess with success?

I use the "piles of crap" organizational system. Basically I keep things in piles, and it looks disorganized but I know exactly where everything I own is, right down to its exact location within the pile. That is, unless someone comes along and cleans/organizes it, then I'm completely lost.
 
Astroganga said:
I periodically do a full clean out. I find it harder to reorganise something when someone else has messed it up or changed things from my system of organisation.
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David Larson said:
I use the "piles of crap" organizational system. Basically I keep things in piles, and it looks disorganized but I know exactly where everything I own is, right down to its exact location within the pile. That is, unless someone comes along and cleans/organizes it, then I'm completely lost.
Click to expand...
Well said, pile of crap, I do that too.
When it's as messy as I can't even tolerate myself, I'll do a full clean out.
Throw a tantrum(can be very big when I stressed out) when somebody touch my things or open my door.
I peel and bite my fingers' dry skin, chew bottom lip, peel off dry patches on lip until it's bleed.
Play with and investigate hair, body-rocking, stuttering, jumping around, stick with a piece of fabric that I like, plastic straw biting...etc.

Anxiety is a thing, getting excited is another thing, I have many different form of "strange behavior".
 
jfk said:
Haha, this is totally me. isn't it really annoying! !!
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Once I had a cleaner, but it was pretty pointless as I spent two hours after she left, putting everything right. It is really hard, and frustrating with kids too. I wish I would have appreciated my autonomy over my space and stuff more, when I didn't have kids yet.
 
Astroganga said:
Shaking my legs and feet, foot tapping, particularly my right leg and foot. Sucking my thumb. Nail biting. Stroking my ears, especially when they are cold.

My bookcases, kitchen and bathroom cupboards, and other storage cupboards are as organised as possible and I periodically do a full clean out. I find it harder to reorganise something when someone else has messed it up or changed things from my system of organisation.
Click to expand...

Yes, me too ie when someone else as messed up or changed things, it puts me into disray and I cannot organise anyone else's; just my own things.
 
forowls said:
I have always wondered if other folk with Asperger's Syndrome exhibit any strange or erratic behaviors/habits, and if any, they are omnipresent specific trends or patterns. I also think it would be a fun discussion topic, because I am fascinated by the human psyche.

Also, when I get anxious, I bite the inside of my thumb or pick the skin off my lips or shake my leg until the apartment vibrates. Also, if I'm listening to music in the car I will use my "gas" foot to tap the beat of the drum until my passenger tells me it's affecting my acceleration.

If I order or make a sandwich, I eat the inside part first like a salad and then eat the bread.

There are others, but I want to know what you guys do! Let me know in the comments below.

<3
Click to expand...

I tend to shake my leg a lot, and also eat the inside of a sandwich first, especially if ham.

jayk said:
I bite my nails when I am thinking hard. I like the feeling of snapping skin: Squeezing skin together and letting it go. My ex hates it but I do it unconsciously to self and her, usually when I am relaxed. I check door and windows multiple times whenever leaving my house. I like chopping food into tiny pieces, it is the only moment that I feel completely focused these days and that makes me feel peaceful.
Click to expand...

I do the bits in bold.

Judging by a lot of the replies above many people do.
When younger I used to twirl my hair and pull it out.
 
Not exactly sure if it on topic but I crack my toes inside my shoes, rub my ears, and ring my hands in stressed mode. In my focus mode my tongue hangs out of my mouth like one of those misshapen dogs or whatever they are called. As a young kid I guess I would suck my food through my teeth kindof like the chewing to little pieces, my parents said it had almost a pacifier affect.
 
I play with my hair, bite fingers(lose skin) I shake my leg and rock back and forth. My eyes will twitch. I get hives and start scratching sometimes if I get stressed, sometimes if a shop doesn't stock what I want anymore.
I keep my hair short now and play with a large coin to stop the finger biting. Most of these I can stop myself doing in public by keeping the stress inside. The coin really helps and it's fun.
 
I twirl my hair, sleep with both feet sticking out from covers, talk to myself and I rock back and forth when extremely nervous.
 
It wasn't until I started learning more about ASD that I became aware I have a LOT of habits/quirks/traits etc. A few:
* things in my handbag MUST be in their right place
* I rub the skin on my finger joints and knuckles when anxious, and pick at my nails (eek)
* spoons must be to the right of forks, which must be to the right of knives in a cutlery drawer
* yohurt must be on top of fruit or muesli when serving
* I rock my leg or feet, depending how energetic I feel
* I get dressed in a certain order. I freak out if I forget an item, like socks, and I have to do it all over again.
* when having a bath, my water glass must be beside me, in case I am thirsty.
* starting my car has a pattern I follow
* at the completion of a job at work, all my tools have to be cleaned and accounted for. Panic arises otherwise.
* I must have a bottle of water within reach
* putting things in my locker at work has an order I follow. I lay the things out on the floor and put them in from right to left.
* I check my posture like 200 times a day
* I wash my clothes in order
* any food with a slimy texture is a no go, as is dressings on salads, oil on the surface of foods, any animal fat (such as fat on the side of steaks)
* food has to be colour balanced, such as mashed potato cannot be next to skinless chicken breast or roast white onion. Monotone foods, like macaroni and cheese, is wrong.
 
I don't think I have too many quirks, but I can tell when I'm about to revisit a bad memory (usually something embarassing) as soon as I notice it start to happen I make some kind of yelp or vocalization to distract myself. Just some way to flood my mind with something else, I guess, and disrupt that cycle of reliving past bad experiences. When I was younger it was more of a random sound, then I said some specific phrase chastizing myself (actually pretty mean and violent stuff), and now I say something in Arabic. It works pretty good, just to have something to suddenly distract myself with, and move on. I would try doing clapping or snapping my fingers but I think that might take too long and not be mentally occupying as much as saying things.

Other quirks are I guess wrapping my feet around eachother when I'm at a table, or biting off dead skin on my lip like some other people have said.
 
I smell the soap whenever I run a load of laundry or dishes. I feel like something is missing if I don't (also the soap smells good; that's where it started).
I can't stand walking barefoot on wet grass. It gives me a feeling similar to the worst case of restless legs, and it lasts for half an hour.
 
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