Stimming

[Happyfeet1997]

So I use to bite my nails something awful which I think was a stun but over the last year I’ve been stimming by biting my teeth (with nothing in my mouth) over and over. I’m going through a rough time and I’m doing it so much. Is this in fact a stim?

 

[Mr. Stevens]

Perhaps. I sometimes do that, but more out of anxiety, so I never thought of it as a stim. Be careful, though. That sounds painful and annoying.

I used to pick my fingernails as a kid! I didn't bite or clip them.

 

[Rodafina]

Is this in fact a stim?

I think one of the facts of stimming is that it can vary quite a lot from one person to the other. I have so many, but grinding and biting my teeth together as you described are one of them. For me, this one is an anxious stim. It tells me that my brain is feeling badly, but I haven’t quite caught up yet as to why.

Many other stims are more neutral or even from happiness for me.

 

[Outdated]

I'm also a teeth grinder. Now that I'm getting older they're all broken and I think that might have contributed. A love for crunching hard boiled lollies also didn't help.

But as Rodafina just said, there's happy stims too. I pace a lot when I'm happy or excited. A lot of people think I'm nervous or anxious when they see me pacing up and down but usually it just means I'm lost in a happy daydream.

 

[AutistAcolyte]

i don't know if its the same thing as what others are describing, but i clench my jaw and kind of alternate which side is clenched. i'm not grinding my teeth against each other horizontally, more like chewing, but only one one side and quickly alternating left and right.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

i don't know if its the same thing as what others are describing, but i clench my jaw and kind of alternate which side is clenched. i'm not grinding my teeth against each other horizontally, more like chewing, but only one one side and quickly alternating left and right.

I do that too!

 

[zhulan]

I've been wondering too exactly what can be considered stimming behaviors. When I was a child, I was told so many times to sit still that I schooled myself to keep my body quiet. However, sitting still is so hard, so I've always stretched a lot (figuring if I look athletic, it's less distracting to others?) It's only lately that I can sometimes relax that vigilance and I've noticed I occasionally flap my hands and forearms when I'm pleased or excited, rubs both thumbs with my index fingers, jiggle my heels when sitting.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

I've been wondering too exactly what can be considered stimming behaviors. When I was a child, I was told so many times to sit still that I schooled myself to keep my body quiet. However, sitting still is so hard, so I've always stretched a lot (figuring if I look athletic, it's less distracting to others?) It's only lately that I can sometimes relax that vigilance and I've noticed I occasionally flap my hands and forearms when I'm pleased or excited, rubs both thumbs with my index fingers, jiggle my heels when sitting.

That's pretty similar to my experience.

 

[Happyfeet1997]

I clench my jaw too!

 

[SusanLR]

Sitting still has always been difficult.
I drew a cartoon when I was a kid that depicted me and a friend sitting at a table trying to eat.
In the cartoon I'm thinking: "I can't sit still." And the other kid is thinking: "I'm afraid I'm going to choke." I drew my Dad standing beside us shaking his head.

I was always sitting in a rocking chair when I could. I rocked constantly.
I know that was a stim. And I still like it.
If I have to sit in a stationary chair, I find I'm always moving around.
Clenching something with my hand, fooling with my hair, biting my lip,
picking at my nails, restless legs.

If I am truly relaxed, I can sit still. Always feel the need to clench something in my hand though. Preferably something soft like a plush throw or small plush toy.

 

[autism-and-autotune]

I stimm by tapping my fingers in imitation of playing the keyboard--either a rhythm to a piece of music in my head, or thinking that I'm actually at the keyboard and hitting the correct notes.

One of my earliest journal entries (2012? 2013?) is where I write about trying to concentrate in the real world and 'playing' Bach's fugue in e minor,BWV 548, the 'Wedge' in my head--which I'd been studying to learn for a year or so. I would visualize a keyboard in my head and think of my fingers hitting all the notes in the subject.

 

[Dagan]

I'm also someone whose stims are probably just dismissed as someone being musical, tapping fingers, hands or feet.