What are your stims?

[Max]

I'm a flapper. Any time I get excited I'm like a bird trying to take off haha

 

[Sev]

I'm not exactly sure if this is what you mean, but I tend to sit a certain way as I feel that it improves my thinking patterns and improves my cognitive ability.It's similar to a squat I guess, sometimes I also sit cross legged as well, but not as often. The semi-squat sitting is strange enough to get a few glances of judgement, but it works for me.

 

[kmom2014]

Rocking back and forth.

 

[wyverary]

I had an unusual one yesterday. I've just started listening to a short podcast to help dust off my French, and I was sitting in my desk chair concentrating on it, my laptop closed, and I stared at a little crack in the wall above my desk while rocking back and forth and stroking the edges of the stickers on my laptop.

 

[cat316]

I like to listen to one music disc over and over, and while the music is playing I walk around my room in circles for an hour or more. I can actually remember doing it since I was about 6 or 8 years old

 

[tlc]

Can never sit still or feel comfortable. Am scratching some part of my body like every 5 or 10 seconds (all parts, not just between the legs). Always sliding down in the chair then quickly pulling myself back up. Always have to do that in the car after every corner too. Leaning one way or the other.

Picking any bit of loose skin I can find, mostly from fingers, till they are a mess. I hate it but can't stop. Pulling hairs and tearing away skin to get to hairs that haven't popped thru yet. Tearing off fingernails and toenails. Smelling fingers after touching things or biting them.

Ever since I can remember (2) I've always had music playing in my head, so sometimes I tap out basslines or keyboard lines (I play both of those).

When I say something, I repeat it back to myself over and over in my head, or out loud if I'm alone. Also if I'm alone I'll say these things as if I am the 3rd person.

When I see printed words (like on roadsigns), after reading them I imagine the words backwards, or see how many anagrams can be made from it.

 

[Sunnylims]

-Picking my split ends/running my fingers through my hair
-Picking my lips
-Digging out the dirt from my fingernails/fiddling with my fingers
- Bouncing my legs
-Moving my feet around
-Make a weird humming noise
-Repeat words under my breath/tap out the syllables on my teeth
-I have two visual tics. One is like a blinking think, one person said it looked like I was winking at them. The other is like widening my eyes, kind of looking like I'm rolling my eyes. This gets brought out when I am in a very crowded and sensory overloaded place
-Biting on the inside of my cheek.
Good laaawwwd, I'm strange. haha
My first meeting with my new Asperger's specialist was a couple of weeks ago (I'm awaiting a diagnosis), but at the end of our first session, she said "I have to point out something that I've noticed, you have not stopped moving this entire time." I didn't even realize that I was doing it. So I have been paying a lot more attention to the things I do.

 

[Kari Suttle]

I have quite a few behaviors that i would consider to possibly be stims. I do them when i'm nervous, concentrating, thinking or otherwise preoccupied and not completely content. Just a ton more when i'm nervous. Picking my lips is the oldest and worst of them, though i do an unusual amount of face touching as well, both of which only when i'm alone cause i got scolded for them so much as a kid. In public i usually play with my jewelry (usually twirling a ring around my finger if i have one on) or sway from side to side.

 

[Ezra]

Rocking most of the time. Wringing my hands / twisting my fingers. Making sounds. Pacing. Hand flapping. Hitting myself. Stuff like that.

 

[muddled]

I bite my nails and lips when bored or stressed.

When I'm alone and concentrating hard on something i repetitively tap my head off either my desk or a door post - just gently, and with a regular rhythm. My housemates have always gotten used to this, eventually...

If I'm really confused and distressed (usually a major social stress that I don't understand - e.g. the end of a relationship) I will violently hit my head against a solid wall - although it causes pain, it weirdly focuses my mind and helps me to logically approach the problem. Usually in these cases I will force myself to cry (I have a series of songs that I use!) as I find that triggering normal human emotion is a helpful stimulant, and again helps me to think logically.

Up until a few years ago, if I had become a bit "over-stimulated", I would sit on the floor of the shower with the water running, for hours, rocking back and forth in the nice calm water.

I rub my ears when I'm over-stimulated - it makes me very drowsy. My fiancé now does it to make me go to sleep

I hand flap very briefly when excited.

I do a weird finger movement (like air piano) when concentrating and excited at work (when I can't do the head tapping thing).

I will also sit in any dark little corner at home that I can, usually in competition with the cat. I usually do some head banging or rocking there.

Holy crap, I really should have been diagnosed years ago....!

 

[XandirKai]

I have a few that I've started noticing. I twirl my beard, feel my hair(especially after a haircut), brush my fingers on things I'm holding in patterns, drum my fingers, or move my feet when sitting like I'm keeping beat. I also pace to calm or if I'm bored, and shift from foot to foot when standing "still". Those are the few I started noticing recently. It helps a lot when I get bored and can calm me or keep me busy enough so I don't get angry because I'm bored.

 

[MovieMike]

Sliding my thumbnail underneath my fingernails, scratching the exact centre of my right palm, rubbing my facial stubble. There are more, but those three are my favourites. I also used bite my fingernails a lot when I was a little kid, and I mean a lot. I would chew them until there was nothing left, then keep chewing. I'm glad I stopped doing that.

 

[neuroillogic]

I didn't notice I had stims until recently (or rather, that the random things I did WERE stims) I thought I just couldn't sit still. Which I can't, but here's some specific things I'll often catch myself doing:
- I used to make this weird throat noise, and I still find myself wanting to produce it, but if I catch it and redirect myself before it happens the first time I can keep it from happening. Otherwise, once I start, I can't stop.
- Sniffling repeatedly, not sure if it's a stim, but I do it a lot when I'm upset.
- Kicking my feet, which often evolved to full on rocking when I get absorbed into my thing I'm doing.
- Pacing. Lots of pacing. I'll catch myself wandering aimlessly around the house all the time.
- Bouncing my infant, it's become the perfect relief for both of us when we're upset
- Repeating a single phrase or song lyric over and over
- Folding or doodling on paper. Usually into a pattern or shape of some kind.
- I tap my desk and laptop when I'm upset, or if I have no surface in front of me I'll just start hitting my palm with the back of my other hand.
- Sway side to side, especially if I'm standing.
- If I have a drink with a straw, I'll stir it into oblivion. I do the same thing with my food and utensils, now that I think about it.
- Spinning/flipping whatever I happen to be holding at the time.
- Spinning in my computer chair. That's just fun, though, isn't it?

 

[Manuheleku]

I just noticed something I do, instead of rocking side to side, I twist at the hips sometimes.

 

[Mary Lyn]

I used to do the paper folding and doodling. Now l foot tap. In heaven if l can get my hands on peeling sunburn

 

[Bramble]

I sway alot when Im nervous. At work, I seem to wash my hands a lot to relieve stress. I also do a leg shaking thing for various situations.

 

[wyverary]

Today it was back to the old standby...sitting on the floor and rocking back and forth! You gotta respect the classics.

 

[Peter A.]

I did not know that people with A.S. (or anyone else, for that matter) actually did this. 'Stimming' - never heard of it. Does anyone know why this happens?

 

[Bramble]

I did not know that people with A.S. (or anyone else, for that matter) actually did this. 'Stimming' - never heard of it. Does anyone know why this happens?

According to the wiki, it may be a defencive/coping measure for too much stimuli. I'm no expert though.

 

[MovieMike]

I did not know that people with A.S. (or anyone else, for that matter) actually did this. 'Stimming' - never heard of it. Does anyone know why this happens?

It can also be due for a desire for some kind of sensory input. One of the reasons I like sliding things under my fingernails is because they're kind of a sensory dead zone, so stimming that way really satisfies my senses. Of course there a lots of reasons to stim. Sometimes I don't even know why I do them, it just feels natural!