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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
?

. . .

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
I stim.

When I was young -- very young -- I had "severe" stims: I hopped around a lot and made annoying animal sounds. :D

These days my stims are far more socially acceptable. I bite my nails, rub my hands together, and tap my feet. That's about it.

If you don't know what stimming is, watch this video:

 
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I used to stim like a maniac as a child; I got a lot of flack from family for it though, and so today am quite ashamed by the whole idea. I learned quickly to hide my stims but, they (family) learned just as quickly how to illicit displays of old ones or bring about variations or even new ones. I am not prepared to go into it now but suffice to say that while some are physical, some are okay and some are harmful depending on the level I reach where I have to stim. Some are verbal, which can be annoying even to me, I used to have plenty of verbals but through family pressure and social disquiet I have had to learn to disguise or hide these. I have developed mimicry as a way to cover my verbal stims.
 
I play with my hair. Its much more acceptable for a girl to do then a 19 year old guy. I have it suppressed really well while in public but I always play with my hair while im laying in bed. When Im around people I (unfortunatly) think my stim is smoking. It gives me something to do with my hands thats more acceptable. I smoke waaaaaay to much socially. I really need to try stopping haha
 
I used to tap my feet constantly. Then we got a kitten that liked to attack moving feet. It's taken a long time but the tapping is back.
 
As a child I'm not sure if it was stims or more ocd but I had to touch things 4 times, I used to touch my hands in certain ways 4 times, I would only eat with my front 2 teeth and grind them(it got so bad the dentist had to coat them). I used to mimick people, particularly famous people. That's all I can recall I haven't actually asked my parents about stims, we've been more focused on my unusual behaviours, rituals etc etc.

As an adult I have alot of stims, probably because I don't have to hide them at home, my husband accepts and even loves my little stim behaviours(apart from some of my more irritating noises). I shake my leg up and down when sitting, I flap my arms when bored, feeling awkward or unsure of what to do. I still have the touching my hands but rather then it being the number 4 I just keep going until they feel right. I've noticed recently in the past few weeks I've started clicking my fingers over and over again. I walk on the sides of my feet when I'm tired, if I'm uncomfortable physically I start pressing the insides of my little fingers. I pick my ears all the time, sometimes they bleed and hurt so badly but I keep on fiddling with them.

My most obvious stim is the verbal one, I will randomly shout out things or things relating to things I've seen or repeat what someone has just said (or something relating to what they've just said). This usually has hilarious outcomes, like once my daughter got one of her teddies out and said it was a 'yoohoo' and I shouted hello. I also have a specific voice that is quite high pitched and almost cartoon like that I say these things in. The number 12 is something I say alot so my daughter might ask what time we are going out I shout 12, or my husband might ask how many X we need and I shout 12. Oh and yes and no answers if my husband asks me a question I will always shout out the opposite to what my answer is before then saying in my normal voice my answer. So he might ask if I know where his X is and I will shout out in my cartoon voice "YES" quickly followed by my regular voice saying no, sometimes he likes to play around and ask me which it is and that sets me off and I say yes no yes no yes no a few times and then we have a laugh about it. I get stuck on certain words that I will call out throughout the day regardless of any stimuli. At the moment it's more of a hmmming noise then a word but previous words and phrases have been Zebra, F**k 'em, Hey, (lots and lots of rude words pertaining to sex and body parts), Shoes, Gay, Ock (not a word just the way to describe the noise).

I can surpress it in public but if I'm having a really bad day and I surpress it my eye starts to twitch. The worst is going to visit my mum for the weekend, it's torture and as soon as we get in the car to go home I start calling things out for almost the entire 3 hour trip home.
 
Don't know if this is something that counts but here goes;
When I was little I used to bend my left leg and put my finger index in the fold under the knee and rub it against the fabric whenever I was uncomfortable with something or bored.

Now I rub my thumb over the tip of my fingers repeatedly if I'm stressed out or worrying about something. And if I'm really upset I bob my head back and forth, but I almost never ever get that upset.

Like 2010Dolby, I also only smoke when I'm with people, never when I'm alone.
 
I do stim. I usually twirl my long hair with my fingers over and over again and tug on it slightly but not hard. I also Rock slightly but its not as noticeable anymore, I play with fingers constantly.
 
I don't know if this counts, but I've always found myself spelling letters to random words that pop into my mind and tracing them on my thigh with my finger.
 
I rock backwards and forwards..since childhood. I hand flap too. I also used to jump and up and down on the spot as a child. I learnt how control the rocking in public from an early age, but still do it at home, constantly. My kids have asked me why I do it...and it's been hard to explain.
 
Hand flapping I've always done. At some point in childhood I noticed nobody else was doing it and they were looking at me strangely so now I only do it when I'm sure nobody else is around. I do other things with my hands- squeezing the fingers on my right hand, pressing my joints in the wrong direction, etc. I also enjoy the feel of some fabrics and will happily sit and stroke them and zone out.
 
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.
 
I never really paid a lot of attention if and how I still I guess. Though there's a few things that come to mind which I sometimes end up doing;

Nailbiting (but that might also be when I'm stressed out)
I tend to move my fingers, mostly my left hand like I'm playing guitar when listening to music when I'm outside. When I'm at home not so much. But sometimes I just move my fingers with some rhythm I hear.
When at home I tend to tap my feet to the beat, sometimes quite loudly. Listening to music with a higher speed (like say; metal in general) makes up for me tapping my feet a lot.
Recently I'm always fiddling with a scarf, which I will wear all the time (and will not leave the house without it).

But somehow I feel that stuff like having to listen to music when doing things (or just in general going outside). Having control over what you hear, to me feels a bit like stimming. That's a secondary purpose I feel as to "drowning out the sound". The same goes for my shades. First, it's because I rather tone down brightness a lot outside, but secondary I feel it's something I do to feel comfy, just by wearing them (or just in general wearing whatever I want to make me feel comfy).

And how much of a stretch it might be. Yes, stimming usually is considered "repetitive", but does "dreaming away" (daydreaming) fit into it? I think it does. No it's not the repetitive pattern of it, but it is a way of finding stimulation.

And more recently I've found myself sometimes rocking back and forth sometimes.

I found that I'm less prone to stimming when I feel fine, less stressed and able to focus on something I care about, rather than me having to make the experience enjoyable by seeking stimuli.

With that, I don't really know if it's something ADHD related, or just stimming. I can't sit still and fiddle around with whatever I have. That to my therapist were signs of hyperactivity, while it could just as well be stimming cause I didn't feel comfy where I was. Who knows what I acted like if I had my sessions at a more comfy environment like at home.
 
I play with my hair, pick at my skin, shake my leg. If I'm very stressed, or there's a bit of sensory overload, I my leg starts to shake or my head starts to nod
 
I stimmed a lot as a child, mainly rocking, though neither me nor my parents knew it was "stimming" at the time. I did it so much that my parents had a special name for it. All I knew was that it felt good. My parents were embarrassed when I did it in front of people and if they caught me doing it they told me to stop.
I have more self awareness now and know what is socially acceptable or not. I stopped rocking publicly when I was about 9, because I started to realise at that point that I was the only kid in the class who did it and therefore it was not OK. I also remember getting told off for other stimming behaviours such as squeaking my thumb against my teeth because it was distracting for the rest of the class.
Nowadays, I only have a few subtle stims, such as playing with a stim toy in my pocket or twisting my fingers.
 
I have several stims....depending on how I feel. I'm glad I'm homeschooled because it wouldnt go over well if I was in school. When I get really excited I flap my hands....particularly when I talk about my chickens (or brackie chickies as I call them) or when I talk about my horse. When I'm excited sometimes I will also twist my hands together under my chin. When I'm upset or really stressed I rock. It works wonders at calming me down. Also I pick my nails/chew my nails. Also when I'm bored I will say brackie chickie over and over....I love my chickens! So yep I think those are mainly my stimms.
 
I realized that this is something I just noticed that I do and has been brought to my attention that I do. If something is starting to make me upset or uncomfortable or something out of my control starts to happen I will start to claw at my face. Not hard enough to draw blood or anything but hard enough that I leave pressure marks.
 
My stims used to be more pronounced but I gradually started doing less obvious ones. The stims I still do are wiggling my fingers/feet, rocking slightly, and loosely wiggling my jaw back and forth. The teeth one is the one I do most often I think because it's the least noticeable.
 
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