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what is your stim?

I tap out little rhythms with my fingers and toes. Until recently I also used to put my fingers on my chest and play it like an oboe. Right now I'm biting the hairs on the back of my wrist...that's a big one with me.
 
when i stand still it is hard not to sway from side to side. I play with my hair, flap my hands when i get excited, move my feet back and forth when i am sitting at the computer. it is physically uncomfortable for being completely still, it is kind of wierd
 
I know, right? If I'm completely still I can't think. I'm aware of my breathing and my wrists feel funny because I'm aware of my pulse and I'm aware of every little sound around me and it is uncomfortable. But I can't stay that way for long because stimming is automatic and happens without thinking about it or being aware of it and it is always a rhythm of some sort.
 
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I twirl my hair a lot and give it little pull. I pick at my skin, my nails, and clothing. A loose thread can capture my attention for a very long time! I like to smell old books, newspaper, and people. Weird huh? Please tell me I am not the only one that does this. It is always someone I am quite familiar with, and I try to do it discretely, but if I am caught I pretend I was leaning over to grab something that I thought fell. But with my husband, I am always smelling him and smelling his clothes. He is very use to it by now, and doesn't give it a second thought. I like to smell my hands to, and move them around a lot.
 
I've been hand smelling today. This is an unusual stim for me. I can't stand to have any smell other than soap, hand sanitizer or hand cream on my hands. The second I get the notion that there may be another smell of some kind on my hands, I keep smelling them & checking them for the smell. If I smell 1 of the 3 scents above, all is good BUT if I get that 'no smell' smell, I've got to go put on cream; if I get a food-y smell, I go wash my hands. Anything else gets hand sanitizer. This is how my hand smelling stim works-but like I said, it is very very rare that I have it.
 
I tend to smell books and newspapers, too. I've read obsessively in the past, so smelling a book sends of flood of (good) associations through my brain. Also smelling my hands....I'm generally making sure they don't smell. I avoid lotions or soaps that leave a scent or the smell on my hands drives me nuts.
 
fjord said:
I tend to smell books and newspapers, too. I've read obsessively in the past, so smelling a book sends of flood of (good) associations through my brain.
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I totally get that. My kids think it's funny that I'm so addicted to the smell of new and old books. Reading is so comforting that I just love the smell of books and makes me feel instantly more comfortable.
 
I bite the inside of my mouth and compulsively touch objects once I was out my mum was talking to her friend and I reached out and grabbed the things she just bought
 
Just recently after years of not doing it I've started hitting myself again. It's probably my least common stim, and only when I'm very anxious/melting down.(not like tapping my feet which I do continuously, even when I sleep apparently) I punch myself in the head and chest and have no control over it at all, I have to be restrained and talked down, so to speak until I'm settled enough to stop
 
I wiggle my feet or knees obnoxiously to the point where other people in movie theaters or on the couch with me give me a weird look.

I tap my thumb to each finger, and then make circles with them, feeling the skin on skin feels good..
I do smell things. Pretty much EVERYTHING. Old books, my hands. If something doesn't smell right, i'm a wreck.

Hmmm, i used to flap my hands but don't anymore (when people are around).

I do rock alot, forward and backward (i don't notice it) and side to side when i'm happy.

I love rubbing my palms together quickly, but in a quiet room that gets the odd looks too.
 
I clap the top part of my palms together very rapidly and quietly. Like, I open my hands very wide and out, and just hit the top palm together.
I do it a LOT.
People look at me like I'm insane
 
I haven't posted much on this forum, so I guess in a way I'm new here. came across this thread as I tried to figure out what hand flapping and stimming was. not sure if these are stims or not but here's what I do

*Very rarely do I sit at my desk at home or work without my knee bouncing. Especially when I'm reading, thinking or concentrating on something else.

*Something I've always done since I've had facial hair, I have a goatee and I stroke my moustache a lot. Again when thinking about something or if someone is talking to me and I'm trying to concentrate on what they're saying, etc.

*Someone mentioned swaying when having to stand still. If I have to stand in a place I'll either shuffle my feet, or sway back and forth a little.

*I tend to get the itches some nights and its always worse when I'm needing to sleep. it bugged the crap out of my ex when we were together!

*speaking of which, I will constantly move my feet/legs around before falling asleep. My ex would joke about how it was my nightly ritual before falling asleep.

Are these stims?
 
"*speaking of which, I will constantly move my feet/legs around before falling asleep. My ex would joke about how it was my nightly ritual before falling asleep."

I rub one foot on top of the other, very slowly until i fall asleep. :)
 
is this a stim or what is it? This just bothers me to no end. if I see bubbling skin or layers of anything I have to destroy, peel, remove the bubbles right away or it will bug me forever... I thought of this one because of my recent junk mobile, it had a peeling clear coat and as the sun was making more and more bubble up over time, I would stand in the parking lot and find all the loose bubbles and peeling sections and have to flake it off. My son, I don't know if it bothered him or not but lol, he helped me haha when he was there. Thankfully the car is gone now. even as I think about that car I get goose bumps.
 
s4ndm4n2006 said:
*I tend to get the itches some nights and its always worse when I'm needing to sleep. it bugged the crap out of my ex when we were together!

Are these stims?
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I have had those "itches" before. It got really bad when I was pregnant. For me, it is my body screaming out for protein, calcium, and magnesium. So I try to eat healthy with plenty of meat and eggs, Quest protein bars for the boost I need, hot cocoa with milk for the cal/mag (can't take vitamin pills), and MSM- a sulfer supp. from food. Hope this helps. My body seems to metabolize protein much too fast. There is actually a severe form of autism characterized by seizures, where their bodies metabolize two protein building amino acids much too fast. I got really bad when I was nineteen and had a couple seizures, so I suspect I have a similar, though milder condition.
 
eating, if i go for an appointment and have to wait, i usually can't deal unless I get a sandwhich or something, at home I eat when I am upset, I try not to, but i get to wear all I can think about is food. When I am stressed I tug on my hair, I have sometimes hit myself in the head sometimes it is just a slap on the forehead but when its really bad, i have punched myself in the head. I scratch my arms. I hold my shirt over my nose, I have holes in the collars of many of my shirts from that, started cause my old roommate smelled really bad, but she also upset me, so its become something I do now when i am upset or nervous.
 
Today's stim: Repeatedly rolling my hair tie from my wrist to my fingers back to my wrist.
 
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