What are your stims?

[Nikita__MacLeod]

Tapping my feet,rubbing my feet/hands together.
Putting my fingers through my hair
Air drumming
Biting the insides of my cheeks
Licking/biting my lips,they get sore,I get angry without my lipalm
Grinding teeth

 

[rache86]

I jog my legs up and down when I am particularly bad. Usually at a very fast pace. I'm in Uni today and feeling very overwhelmed by being around so many people and have had to find a silent corner somewhere to stay away from everyone and do it.

I also bite my cheeks too, and my lips.


Aspergers Syndrome: Teacher. UK

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

Mine are pacing around and bouncing up and down.

 

[Nitro]

I bounce my leg or if an intense stim is not really necessary,just my big toe.
I rock a bit too and pace while on a phone.

There are pages upon pages of doodling,mostly in geometric shapes with orderly fashion.

There are always equilateral triangles involved in my geometric shapes.

 

[reveric15]

I squint a lot when it is not necessary, I have a really hard time sitting still for long, and I bite or chew my nails frequently. My other stims change over time, sometimes daily or weekly, so I don't have any one thing I do for years at a time.

 

[cygx]

i jiggle my leg a lot. it's annoyed people because they think i'm impatient. it doesn't help that sometimes i tap my foot as well. when there's a lot going on in my head and it's a big mess in there and i'm trying to articulate a thought, i tend to rock side to side or forward and back and wiggle one of my middle or ring fingers, or both. that can lead to tapping something, sometimes my knee, sometimes the side of my head.

 

[DylanKP]

My arms are constantly moving, whether I'm typing on a keyboard, playing with my hair, or tapping on my leg. I also tap my heel.

 

[Cuppa' Tea]

I have quite a few stims:

- moving my foot or just my big toe up and down when I'm bored
- I spin things in my hand like my headphones
- I fidget constantly. If I have anything in my hands, I am playing with it.
- Handflapping
- rubbing my fingers together
- smelling things
- echolalia (I repeat quotes from various television shows and movies)
- mental stims like repeating phrases over and over in my head

 

[clg114]

I love my rocking chair, but I thought that was just because I'm old. Reading all these different stims reminds me of something I used to do when I was young, way before I was diagnosed. I used to do a lot of dirt bike riding. I rode a lot and loved it. It may seem strange, but I always felt refreshed after a ride. In those days I used to make a twisting motion with my right hand (throttle hand). This was something I did a lot with out thinking about it. There are other stims ,but that was my most unusual one.

 

[Nitro]

I love my rocking chair, but I thought that was just because I'm old. Reading all these different stims reminds me of something I used to do when I was young, way before I was diagnosed. I used to do a lot of dirt bike riding. I rode a lot and loved it. It may seem strange, but I always felt refreshed after a ride. In those days I used to make a twisting motion with my right hand (throttle hand). This was something I did a lot with out thinking about it. There are other stims ,but that was my most unusual one.

With a motorcycle you can reach zen by just hearing it run...I often roll the throttle open on a grocery cart and push it faster if I see something I really want...I am a grocery cart drifting champion with trophy winning skills that usually finds the right line to do successful complex turns. Another fluke of mine is test pushing a cart to see if it is bent and pulls when you push it...poor wheel alignment will give you poor handling especially when drifting...

I would like to see Harley-Davidson build a grocery cart with lots of chrome so I could drift it,but remembered the bike I bought off them leaks oil and is hard to keep shiny

 

[gonzerd]

With a motorcycle you can reach zen by just hearing it run...I often roll the throttle open on a grocery cart and push it faster if I see something I really want...I am a grocery cart drifting champion with trophy winning skills that usually finds the right line to do successful complex turns. Another fluke of mine is test pushing a cart to see if it is bent and pulls when you push it...poor wheel alignment will give you poor handling especially when drifting...

I would like to see Harley-Davidson build a grocery cart with lots of chrome so I could drift it,but remembered the bike I bought off them leaks oil and is hard to keep shiny

Shopping cart rally stage! I'm always drifting those, especially when there's quite some weight in them. The extra strain... will I make the turn or end up in the fresh fish display... Swerving through it all, or making in place 360 spins. Testing the wheel alignment is standard practice as soon as I get the cart, just giving it a small push and see how it rolls. If it's all out of place, I don't take another one, but try to adjust the push accordingly. Extra fun. You know those dudes holding signs, spinning them around and stuff... that's me, but with a shopping cart.
I don't know what it is exactly, but something about grocery shopping can make me act particularly loose and silly (if I'm in the right mood, because it can also cause me to get on the brink of meltdown). The other day was a good shop. First they played some early 90s dance hit, which got me into dancing, and then later on they played...

...and I couldn't resist singing along (quite out of key I should add) and hold my burning lighter up, swaying left and right as if it was a concert.
Yeah, shopping can be fun, if I'm in the right mood.

 

[wyverary]

Shopping cart rally stage! I'm always drifting those, especially when there's quite some weight in them. The extra strain... will I make the turn or end up in the fresh fish display... Swerving through it all, or making in place 360 spins. Testing the wheel alignment is standard practice as soon as I get the cart, just giving it a small push and see how it rolls. If it's all out of place, I don't take another one, but try to adjust the push accordingly. Extra fun. You know those dudes holding signs, spinning them around and stuff... that's me, but with a shopping cart.
I don't know what it is exactly, but something about grocery shopping can make me act particularly loose and silly (if I'm in the right mood, because it can also cause me to get on the brink of meltdown). The other day was a good shop. First they played some early 90s dance hit, which got me into dancing, and then later on they played...

...and I couldn't resist singing along (quite out of key I should add) and hold my burning lighter up, swaying left and right as if it was a concert.
Yeah, shopping can be fun, if I'm in the right mood.

I've been at Walmart at one in the morning with a full shopping cart (including a hundred-lb teenage girl) racing through the aisles with Red Priest blaring through a portable Tivoli speaker in my purse. The trick here is "one in the morning," and I think it was a Saturday (so everyone was in bed resting up for church). It removes all the stress and can be the most fun you've ever had.

 

[SammiArielle]

I pick up stuff and mess with it, as well as i will rip up mail or paper or plastic bags. i tend to break things when im upset, if something is in my reach, i will grab it and throw it as hard as i can before i can notice and stop myself im not sure what else i do, i think i tend to bounce my legs around, and if im standing ill spin around x3

 

[gonzerd]

I've been at Walmart at one in the morning with a full shopping cart (including a hundred-lb teenage girl) racing through the aisles with Red Priest blaring through a portable Tivoli speaker in my purse. The trick here is "one in the morning," and I think it was a Saturday (so everyone was in bed resting up for church). It removes all the stress and can be the most fun you've ever had.

How I wish I had access to that kind of 24-hour shopping experience! It would change my life. I tend to go close to closing time, but not too close. There's usually less people and the store personnel tend to be more relaxed towards the end of their shifts.
The music plays a big role too; like becoming one with the spirit, not really getting lost in it and losing control, but having it as a guide for movement. If that makes any sense.
Once I had to make my way on foot through a terrible snowstorm so I could do the nightshift at a plastic injection molding factory stacking breadboxes and the like. It was late december and I sure had a bad case of late december blues. It had been freezing for over a week; my heater broke a couple days in. Some punks tried to rob me on Christmas Eve and my family was getting very pushy.
As it turned out, ideal circumstances to listen to some Mozart and Beethoven. I think I was waving my arms all the way down that ice- and sludge-covered road like some mad snowman being attacked by a particularly determined and malicious fly. It felt sooooo good. Just thinking about it as I type makes my endorphin levels go up.

 

[Amee]

I do alot of swaying from side to side when sitting down, usually when I'm in a good mood. I do it unconsciously and my friends get nervous when I do it so I try to not do it. When I'm in a lower mood I rock back and forth instead. Except for these, I do a lot of finger tapping.

 

[Peace]

I shake a lot, or have tremors. I make little noises which I fail to notice, but those close by always do. I have also started to walk more loosely, so as to float somewhat. I sway more to the point of using objects around me to bounce off of as I go to help steady myself. A big change as I was always so defined and deliberate with my movements.

 

[Ylva]

Hand-flapping and rocking.
Teeth-clacking, lip-biting, flexing the muscles in my hands or stomach or thighs.
Sucking my teeth. Humming. Random dance moves.

 

[Salmongirl17]

My stims include humming constantly, wandering around aimlessly, twisting in weird ways (don't ask), squealing, and saying positive words. I probably say positive words because I dislike the negative ones. However, if my friends are teasing me about something, I really don't know how to react. So the very first thing that pops into my mind is the word "yay". My friends say it's annoying, and yes, it is. I don't know if I'd call this a stim or not?

 

[Ylva]

It's not a stim, but if your friends want to tease you they can take some annoyance.

 

[AppleJubilee]

Hand flapping when I am very happy or excited.
Pacing around.
Rocking back and forth.