What are your stims?

[landlubber]

I like rocking in my chair and I twirl my hair.

 

[Sofi]

I fiddle with my fingers and hands a lot - Usually when I am excited about something like an obsession. I do strange things with my hands!
I get an object, just any nearby object like remote control, and rotate it intensely when I am excited also (hard to explain)
I play when my hair when I am distressed in a very repetitive motion, I like the feeling it calms me.
I laugh inappropriately... I don't know if that is stimming

 

[lyricalillusions]

Rocking back & forth, repeatedly rubbing my leg or rubbing my hands together, or rubbing my face or forehead, pacing back & forth around the house & doing this weird thing with my right hand, fingers, & arm, that I can't even explain.

 

[AdoringLove]

Hand flapping and flicking when I get excited.
I fixate on textures I guess
I peel a lot, I love to peel stuff
I love picking out eye gunk

 

[squiggle]

Think I have an idea what a stim is. They do tend to be when no one else is around. Embarassing when you think about some haha. Jump up and down on the spot whilst flapping my hands when excited. Bite my wrist when stressed/angry. Ones not linked to emotions:.I used to hold my nose and pop my ears. Shout random things/make random noises.

 

[radiofixr]

I do pace and hand flap-I tap my fingertips together like Mr Burns on the Simpsons and do a funny twisting motion with my arms-and I do rock and tap my feet rhytmically from heel to toe.

 

[. . .]

My stims include:
- Air drumming
- Air piano
- Running my hands through the carpet (I do that one when nobody's around)
- Touching or rubbing my face and neck (I do this when stressed)
- Pacing (I pace when stressed or on the phone)
And a couple more that I can't think of right now.

Holy! Air drumming and air piano! I thought I'd be the only one to have these stims. I've never admitted to doing this online before, but since you wrote that you do it, I'll just chime in and say that these have been stims of mine. Do you usually do the air drumming and air piano while listening to music? I did. I used to always air drum while listening to metal bands like Slayer; it released so much tension.

My stims are all the same as yours. I may as well have typed your post for you.

Your post made me feel slightly more normal. Thanks.

 

[. . .]

Do any of you not stim at all? I asked the same thing at Spectrumville. I'm just curious to know how common it is to be on the spectrum whilst not being a stimmer. I'm sure it isn't very common.

I've had some ASD "sufferers" claim that they don't stim. This seems strange to me seeing that I've stimmed a lot everyday from the earliest time I can remember.

If I didn't stim I'm not sure if I'd have assumed myself to be on the spectrum. However, I'm an extremely obsessive person and suffer anxiety which is of an abnormally high degree, so if I didn't stim, I'd maybe still have figured myself to be on the autism spectrum; it's impossible to say. But one thing that lead to researching ASDs was me trying to discover why the hell I'd been doing these "stereotypical movements" i.e. - stimming (which I never used to be able to pin a name to) to calm me down. It just didn't make sense to me and made me feel abnormal. I felt guilty and strange about my stims, and sometimes hoped that I'd "grow out" of them.

For a little while, I was debating whether my stims were due to Tourette's (which, incidentally, happens to be a common co-morbid condition diagnosed alongside ASDs) or an ASD. I eventually ruled out Tourette's and knew that I was somewhere on the high end of the autism spectrum. I could actually have a minor case of Tourette's with my ASD, but it's hard to say. Some of my stims are very Tourette's-like, especially the vocal stims I had at a young age.

 

[Firnafth]

I jiggle my feet, pace, rub my fingers and palms, rock back and forth while sitting, rock from one foot to the other while standing, bob my head, and twirl my hair. I also like to scratch my rough chewed fingernails on fabric which they catch on, if that makes any sense.

 

[superboyian]

I've noticed this stim that I have been doing lately and it definitely means rocking my head when something I'm listening to a really good song and I also tend to flick my pen or whatever up in the hair and catching it.... I've been doing more of that ever since I met this really cool person that I met when I started my new class.

 

[Whit]

Swaying back and forth, flapping my hands, bouncing slightly with my knees...

 

[LgndKllr24]

Hand flapping and flicking when I get excited.
I fixate on textures I guess
I peel a lot, I love to peel stuff
I love picking out eye gunk

That's ironic that you mentioned picking out eye gunk because I do that too! I have a stim too of picking out dry skin that's around the outside of my ear. I never really understood why I used to do that, but now I understand since it is potentially a stim.

Besides those things, I also flick my fingers, run my hand though my hair and touch my face, tap my leg with my hand in a closed fist repeatedly, rub my hands together, and probably some other things I can't really recall at the moment.

 

[jaws]

I've been told about chewing my tongue (though I am generally unaware of this until it gets sore), rubbing my hands together, and making odd sounds or voices. I think I do others at times because I end up with calluses on my little fingers, but I'm not sure what from...when I try to pay special attention to them for a while to figure it out, the calluses go away.

 

[Undiagnosed]

when my son was younger he always used to entre the kidthen with this dance spin and foot movement like dance thyp thing He would do it in the kidtchen I guess becouse the kitchen was the only smoth floor. Was that a stem?

whenever he lays down to rilax his feet like kick out
when he was a baby he would fuss and kick his feet untill his shoes would be kicked off saying "my feet hot"........ u think thats a stim??

and he makes a certain noise when he is board or relaxing.

and he bounces his knee

 

[Biblio-Love]

When I was young I twirled, jumped, and flapped my arms. When I got older I replaced them with more socially acceptable versions, like foot bobbing, finger tapping, hair twirling, and hand rubbing. When I get stressed I stroke my face rather hard and pull at my hair. I also smell my hands a lot, which is the weirdest thing I do, but I can do it discreetly for the most part. I smell and pick at all sorts of things. I pick and peel at my skin and other people's skin (if they let me!). Peeling a sunburn is so much fun!

 

[General Sherman]

Mine is brushing/tapping my right hand aganist my teeth. Popped up about a year a ago and has been slowly getting worse. Really annoying.

 

[silent ABAB]

Picking skin on my fingers(ik, gross >.>), it looks like a warzone on my fingers and people constantly ask me if I'm alright when they see them. Foot tapping also, which people tend to walk over and supposedly stop me for the second time even though I don't remember the first. Like a teacher would say "This is the second time I've asked you to stop." when I was sure it was the first. Other people like it when I put my foot on the back of their chair sometimes though, I go so fast that I guess they like it. xD
I also tap my right hand to a tune on the piano. If I have a pen I swing it by putting my fingers in a certain position. But when I try to stop doing these or just not do them I get these weird feeling around my whole body then it just "releases" I guess with my arms shaking and my fingers just spazzing out which I sometimes end with slamming down on something with a fist. People usually mistake me for being mad when that happens though.

 

[Daniel]

I never thought much about it until I read this thread, but I pick at my lips with my teeth, tap out drumming rhythms (especially paradiddles), make drum beats in my mouth by swishing saliva or clacking my teeth (I have three distinct methods), crack and stretch my fingers and neck, freeze in odd poses, peel and pick at skin, peel paint, touch my face or ears, and there were a bunch of other ones in the past. I try to keep out of anyone's direct field of vision when doing any of this stuff. My wife gives me a look when I make noises at inappropriate times. I remember humming tunes with drumbeats when I was four years old.

I'm new to knowing I'm an Aspie, so I'm guessing this is all some form of stimming because A) it feels good, and B) I wouldn't do it if I knew an NT was watching me.

My wife pointed out that I do this thing where I'll be alone in another room and I have conversations with myself under my breath. I had no idea I was making any sound but she would ask me who I'm talking to. I suspect that's some sort of Aspie thing; if not, it might as well be. I really feel like a weirdo when I do something I have no idea I'm doing.

 

[Divrom]

I never thought about these as Stims until I was diagnosed. It's annoying really as I now notice them a lot.

Clenching my eyes so tight that my eyeballs hurt
Swinging/Tapping my feet
Tapping fingers (if anxious)
Biting the inside of my mouth
Knocking my teeth together
Smelling my fingertips

I used to scratch my leg a lot, but haven't done so in ages.

The most common one is the eyeball clench. It's almost like a slow, prolonged and tight twitch.

 

[Bay]

I repeatedly intertwine, weave and twist my fingers together. I usually don't realize I'm doing it until I notice someone staring at my hands. It feels as though my hands will just fly into the air if I don't do it. I have actually hurt my hands doing it, though not seriously.