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Do you stim? If so, what are your stims?

Do you stim?

  • Yes

    Votes: 30 93.8%

  • No

    Votes: 2 6.3%
  • Total voters
    32
i feel like as i got older, my stims grew more pronounced for some reason? unless i'm just not remembering which is a possibility. the way i stim now is that i whistle lightly under my breath, and sometimes i rock back and forth, but not super often. my most noticeable stims are picking at the skin on my arms or my scalp. but i also do the more common things like biting my fingernails and bouncing my leg when i'm around people.
 
I have a couple tactile stims. It was only recently as I researched Asperger's/autism that I figured out that's what I was doing. I run my fingers along a section of my hair over and over - it isn't "playing" so much as it's feeling the smoothness of it. I will also run my fingers over coins that are in my pocket, and line them up from smallest to largest over and over as well. If I can't feel my hair or run my fingers over something like coins, I will chew the insides of my cheeks. It was only recently (I'm 29) that I realized that whenever i am focusing on something, I am pretty much always also doing one of these things. I think it helps keep me grounded. I used to do other things when I was little - I remember having a habit of pulling my hair out for a while when I was young, and I also recall being scolded in school for things like opening/closing a velcro binder repeatedly (I didn't even really realize I was doing it).
 
I make an odd clicking noise in my throat, I hiss (I smile and go "heeeeeeeeeeh!") and I kick my feet. Also I clap, jump, and clap using only my fingers.
 
consultingrodent, I only tend to do this when they're in my pocket, but that's probably because I don't really ever have loose change on a table in front of me. I am sure I would do it then too.
I really like to run my fingers along the head stamped on an older quarter (before they put states on them), just like the feel of it.
 
When I was a kid, I would rub my knuckles on the wall until the skin rubbed off.
Now I rock a lot. I also try to combine stimming with exercise. Or maybe it's exercise as stimming. something.
Oh yeah, and pantyhose. When I was a kid young enough to get away with it, I would walk up and run my fingers on women's legs.
 
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Harpuia said:
Something pops into my head and I just suddenly blurt it out completely at random... I've learned to deal with that over time and it only happens seldom when my guard is down now.
Click to expand...

I do the same thing, but strictly when no one's around. It astonishes me sometimes what comes out from pure impulse.

I also feel the need to constantly stretch my neck upwards.
 
Well, I don't know how much of it is stimming, and how much is my severe OCD co-morbid diagnosis. I'm always rocking back and forth; I have no idea how people can keep perfectly still all the time. I used to have a severe compulsion where I'd jerk my head up and down, but that's under control. I'll often say words out loud that I'm reading, and I occasionally bite my nails, among many, many other things.
 
buckyboy14 said:
I'll often say words out loud that I'm reading
Click to expand...

Does that attract any unwanted attention? I only do that when no one's around, and I'm reading the same sentence over and over but it's still not sticking because my mind is wandering over the rhythm of the syntax rather than the actual content. I also bang the table I'm reading on at that point.
 
It has at times, yes. Most of the time, people just say "What?" and I say "Nothing," so it's usually not a big deal. Sometimes, however, people will laugh at me, and that makes me feel bad, because I can't control what I'm doing.
 
Humming, singing, rubbing my finger across my scalp and in my hair, sometimes I will catch myself randomly talking out loud... saying a word or phrase, randomly. When I was a kid I counted things, read signs, spelled things, sounded things out. I also recall jumping up and down, and some hand flapping but it was mostly out of excitement and not too often.

I think I've subconsciously tried to stop stimming and so I channeled it into singing, humming, running, and unfortunately... drinking, although I have been sober now for almost two years. I tend toward repetitive behaviors in general and have to watch myself. Sometimes I aggravate and exhaust myself with the humming and singing. My husband loves it though. Guess it's just one of those things he finds unique about me and doesn't want to change. He actually sings with me now and we make up songs, mostly about our pets and some imaginary animals - I am starting a book about the imaginary animals.

At times when I've been in severe emotional pain, I will rock back and forth.
 
I sing very loudly

rock and shake

press on my eyes

sigh into my hands and keep my face there till im ready to come back

put a cold wash cloth on my face

bite my nails

slap my hands very loudly on my thighs and stomach in a drumming sense.

i go "lalalalalalalalaLALALALAAAAA! LALALA LA LA LA LA LALALAAAAAAA!!!"
and "dootdootdootdootdootdootdootdootdoooooooooooooooot"
at the end of the lala's and dootdoot's, i have to end them long.


i start talking loud and fast and animate my face and arms more. flapping.

laughing very loud and sing songy.

Shadow box (where you spar with a invisible person, good excersize)

i dont look very high functioning when these things happen. Sometines my NT daughter either laughs at me or tells me to calm down. i have to do this when i am in some discomfort or extrenely happy.
othertimes i end up shutting down and kinda juat rocking and go into my head.
i am not as loud in public as i am at home bit its still noticable to people thats tjere is somethibg going on with me although i look normal, and can be humiliating, which can make me want to stim even more.
 
I rock when I'm deep in thought. This is usually listening to music, reading something or just deep in thought. I also clasp my hands or grab my wrist tightly when I'm really anxious but I'm not sure if this is stimming.
 
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Yeah especially at my weekend cashier job. I'll drum my hands on the edge of the register scanner when starting to talk to a new customer or if i'm particularly nervous talking to one. I'll tap a foot back and forth against the mat they have behind the register a lot if i dont have a customer, or if i'm just standing there waiting for a check to go through the machine. God forbid i get ahold of a pencil or a hanger, i will twirl it around in my fingers endlessly. I used to do this with a class ring i used to have until i lost it, necklaces as well.

Idk if it counts as a stim but if i'm being made to redline - stand at the front of the lane waiting for customers - i'll stand against something or near enough to something that i can have physical contact with it. If that's not an option or would stand out to omuch i'll stand with one arm crossed behind me grasping the other arm cause you can't cross your arms in front of you without getting a look for it. I hate being in the open and i hate redlining so i try to stay or at least look busy enough that i dont have to redline.
 
My main stim is biting the inside of my mouth and lips. I do it all day as soon as my night guard comes out (I grind my teeth at night).
I also bounce in my seat and twiddle my fingers and move my hands while talking.
 
I don't think I could list all my stims, but the one that is most prominent is pacing. I pace when I'm thinking, nervous, talking on the phone, and probably at least 50 other situations. I can walk 20 miles a day and never leave my living room.

At least it keeps me in shape.
 
I play with my hair, pace, pick at the skin on my lip and face, bounce my leg, wring my hands... I'm very fidgety and I'm always doing something with my hands.
 
I didn't realise that things like stacking coins were stimming. I sometimes stack them from the largest to the smallest in a perfectly neat pile.
 
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