Warm tingles and stimming

[Hedgehog Instigator]

Whenever I feel an extreme need to stim I get a warm sensation in my gut, this is especially true when it's an obsession based stim. I am on fire feeling as I'm studying Nikolai Tesla's paper I just found. And now I am all flappy, pacey, and warm sensation.

 

[Beverly]

For me, it isn't warm but, I do get anxious tingles, like excitement before a vacation or, before going on stage. It's as if my body is anticipating something exciting or pleasurable and, gearing up for it. For me, the most common time that happens is when I know I will get to spend a day alone, doing whatever I please all day. (Usually means jamming out and gaming alternately, then ordering my favorite take out for dinner. )

 

[clg114]

Whenever I feel an extreme need to stim I get a warm sensation in my gut, this is especially true when it's an obsession based stim. I am on fire feeling as I'm studying Nikolai Tesla's paper I just found. And now I am all flappy, pacey, and warm sensation.

At my age, when I feel like that it is time for some Pepto-Bismol. When I am reading about something that has my attention, I lose all track of time. It is pretty weird, I start researching something and poof, suddenly it is 6 or 8 hours later. It probably would be worse, but at some point my wife will come and check on me.

 

[AspergerianYogi]

Whenever I feel an extreme need to stim I get a warm sensation in my gut, this is especially true when it's an obsession based stim. I am on fire feeling as I'm studying Nikolai Tesla's paper I just found. And now I am all flappy, pacey, and warm sensation.

Yes - that absolutely happens to me. Sometimes I actually feel the sensation in my chest or a more targeted part of my body (my arm, my shoulder, my foot, etc.). It usually takes me a few deep breaths to overcome the sensation and remember that it is just that - a sensation, a sensory experience that will engulf my body and then pass through me and I will eventually even out mentally and sensationally.

One thing that has helped me when I get the warm feeling is remembering in those moments everyone experiences a sort of sensory overload from time to time; at my job I will often look around and notice that when people are sitting still they start tapping their ankle or bounding their knee very rapidly and rhythmically. They have habits for quelling it: checking their phone or writing something down or doodling a little bit. I've worked to mimic these habits and they've actually served me well in keeping a low profile. If I ever really need to stim, I can always take a bathroom break, find an empty and isolated spot, or take a walk and find such a spot outside.

***To be clear - before I took on these more low-key habits I just mentioned, my way of stimming was to break out into a song or a dance or a yoga routine or a series of loud breathing exercises within plain sight or close earshot to others. So for me, realizing that people around me were just better at containing their sensory overload before it became visible was helpful for me; it made me feel like maybe I wasn't so different from everybody else (or, on the flip side, maybe they were more like me in certain ways than I was giving them credit for), and this made me feel empowered to adopt more mainstream, NT ways of coping with my bodily need for sensory integration through movement.

 

[N64boy96]

This happens when I get excited. If I complete a project or video game I get all jitty, put my hands behind me and start flapping them for a few seconds. I found ways to hide it in public but it has to come out it just does. I don't think it's bad it's a good sign I put my all in this I deserve to feel happy. Sometimes it's so bad when I'm alone I'm like "Thank god nobody seen me do that."

 

[AspergerianYogi]

This happens when I get excited. If I complete a project or video game I get all jitty, put my hands behind me and start flapping them for a few seconds. I found ways to hide it in public but it has to come out it just does. I don't think it's bad it's a good sign I put my all in this I deserve to feel happy. Sometimes it's so bad when I'm alone I'm like "Thank god nobody seen me do that."

1) How do you hide it in public?

2) Regarding your comment about it being a good sign when sometimes you stim in public, I completely agree AND think that the more comfortable a person is in his/her own skin, others really don't think that much of it when they see it. I was part of a social networking group of 20-somethings on the spectrum a few years ago, and I remember this one girl who used flap her hands quite a bit, and it rarely seemed as though there was any trigger for it - sometimes she just had to let her body do it. But what amazed me was how well she would downplay it and disarm people when it happened. She would be in the middle of a crowd of male NTs, throwing pretty good game down (she was quite a hit among guys - by no means a player but also never had difficulty finding a boyfriend), and once or twice during the conversation she would flap her hands. People either would ignore it since it wasn't getting in the way of the conversation, or sometimes they would ask. She would very matter-of-factly reply, "Oh, yeah - don't mind me. Sometimes I do that when I'm feeling excited"; the conversation would continue. Long story short, if you're cool with it, chances are everyone else will be, too. Keep fighting the good fight!!

 

[N64boy96]

My sister says it looks like I'm trying to fly