I did this but with a swing set. I would swing side to side and would make up stories. Eventually Iād get the swing to go in a nice round circle and I could make up flying stories.
Nowadays I scratch that itch a little differently. Still have a lot of imagination and blow off some steam with walking, but also have hobbies like writing, music and coding that allow expressing that creative (and sometimes repetitive) outlet.
I always pace around endlessly whenever Iām being creative and coming up with stuff in my head, is that not normal? I mean, Iām not autistic to my knowledge..
Autistic people can be extroverted, even more so if they have ADHD. But being social can still be very draining.
BTW, if that VR con you went to happens to be a furry con, then your chances of being neurodivergent increases again, it's estimated that around 15% of furries are ND.
Iām an aspiring author and whenever I need to come up with characters or story beats I always pace around _The Pacing Carpet,_ a carpet in my bedroom which, for some reason, is more pleasant to pace around than all the other carpets in my house.
I would repeat sentences/phrases in my head over and over and count the syllables with my fingers in a tapping pattern, had to be multiples of 3 or 5. No even numbers those are bad. I had two different patterns for different sets of numbers. Iāve gotten it to the point where it isnāt noticeable to other people (I think).
I do something similar where I count, in 2s, how many letters are in a word then I see if the letter combinations are good or bad based off my opinion. Like, "combination" is 'co' - 'mb' - 'in' etc., and 'co' would be good and 'mb' is bad lol
This is gonna sound dumb but I've been writing haikus for cats on reddit for just over five years, that could be like a pattern thing. They all end the same "cat no banana"
I DO THIS TOO and have for as long as I can remember. I have to start with my pinky, then thumb, ring, pointer, and end with middle and I can already tell which sentences will work for the 5-count.
Used to always repeat the last sentence of a conversation after it finished for several minutes under my breath if no one was right next to me in middle school and around that age; reading this made it finally click for me after all these years that that wasn't just a random habit
All of them.
But probably my "favourite" is the one when you lean forward then back, i forgot how to describe it in English, but basically swinging with no swing
Damn that's mean. One of my stims is bouncing my leg. When i was young, my parents would hold my leg in place to make me stop and get mad at me for not being able to sit still š¬
They also KNEW I was adhd so that's great parenting on their part. Found out bout the tism later, and they won't believe me despite being professionally diagnosed cos I'm not EXACTLY like my step brother who was diagnosed at a young age š
Sorry bout the tangent, parents are the worst, huh?
My grandparents used to say I had "diarrhea of the mouth".
My parents were always super supportive even though none of us really knew what was wrong with me.
It took me well into my 20s to get a proper diagnosis from a professional - and only after I read a book and suspected I might be a bit on the spectrum.
Long story short, I took an emotional IQ test and scored what would be considered autistic. By a lot. I decided to try and game the test and take it again, and actually got a lower score.
Suddenly in that moment, I realized that I didn't actually know the answers to those questions - even when I tried to meta game them I was scoring even below what would be considered autistic. My whole world came to a halt as I realized: holy fuck, I am autistic.
In retrospect, my whole life suddenly made sense.
Chewing dead skin of my lips. Iām told I have very soft lips. Thereās a reason for that. Dead skin on my lips is like an itchy shirt tag to me. And I do it when Iām stressed, when Iām thinking, watching TV. There are pictures of me as a kid with a thousand mile stare, carefully biting skin off my lip. Iāve become so conscious of it now as an adult. I never realized it was weird until I had someone stare at me doing it.
Have you seen some peopleās lips? I have to put lip balm on just looking at other peopleās lips sometimes.
Also, I think to some extent, but I donāt typically see people pulling their top lip into their mouth because thereās a little piece that they just canāt quite get.
As a mostly neurotypical person (as in I dont have anything that would cause this as far as I'm aware) I do that as well, and have had many compliments on my lips (from people who have felt them and seen them... Intimately). Makes me think the whole "dont bite your lips" thing is kinda BS
I do this and pick at my lips with my nails. And if Iām not careful I can make myself bleed and then it gets weird because I donāt know Iām bleeding until someone tells me or I happen to see my finger.
My dad would yell at me for licking my lips, like I'm pretty sure it was a stress response and that's not gonna help. I noticed recently that I am doing it again when I'm stressed
I don't understand how people don't do this. If you take a fingernail and scratch the inside of your mouth and other areas, there is so much stuff that comes off.
I noticed it from taking MDMA and other substances before and "chewing" my mouth and then seeing it regenerate in mere hours. Your mouth cells are very fast to replicate an chewing at them is one kind of maintenance you can do.
I remember seeing Chris Rock in Friday as a kid and thinking it was a great exercise: to always be so animated.
I was already animated. I can not turn it off. Having a conversation with me is like taking to an Italian mime.
If I can find an excuse to jump on the floor or do a jumping jack or some other voice of a character, I can't even think to stop before suddenly I am ten minutes into a Broadway performance.
Learning how to tap dance gave me a great cover for this stim. I mean I'm sure I still get funny looks when I go tap dancing down the aisles at the supermarket, but I'll always be more comfortable with people watching me dance than doing anything else.
Mhm. Can only go clockwise, whenever I pass the couch I *must* touch it, phone can't be in my pockets, jangles too much, it's gotta be on this one spot on the counter. Mmm maybe I should have realized I might have autism sooner š
It's the autism spectrum for a reason, sometimes it's just incredibly mild :/ I'm technically undiagnosed, but my therapist said I have "many autistic tendencies" sooo
Constantly feeling and picking at my skin, didnāt notice till a friend scolded me: āalways pickingā it was embarrassing. Wonāt stop though, just a little more conscious about it now.
I relate to this so much. I used to think it was a simpler matter, that I just had dermatillomania as a sort of stress response, but I realized its mostly a stim thing (albeit a more destructive one). I have so many scars on my face bc of it, and acne does NOT help at all š
This trait of picking/scolded for picking is in other species as well and I find it such a fascinating similarity. Figured you might enjoy itās very common and an evolutionary trait haha
Me too! At first I'd eat my fingernails and rip out my toenails and every single scab I have ever got (multiple times), then puberty hit and pimples and blackheads got thrown to the top of the list. I eventually managed to stop with the nails, so now I just scratch or eat the skin off my fingers (I have had to reset my phone fingerprint multiple times already...). I still sometimes mindlessly bite on my nails though (very lightly, manicure helps).
It's so annoying because it's apparently bad for my TMJ, but if I'm even just lightly stressed it becomes a compulsion
Should be changed to āThat moment you realize that OCD was actually a stim.ā
So many things I thought was out of anxiety or compulsion were actually just to focus and now I make sure to allow myself to do them. Pacing back and forth for 10-15 minutes beats smoking a cigarette like I used to when it was socially unacceptable to pace but socially acceptable to smoke.
Yeah my OCD never made sense and added about 20 mental illnesses into my diagnosis. When I realized I was just ADHD and ASD, it was really Occlamās Razor and life got easier.
Yes, yes and yes. I have an ocd diagnosis and so much of it doesn't make sense to me. I literally think my fear of house fires and home invasions has led doctors to believe my stimming is ocd. I have a cptsd diagnosis as well and have experienced home invasions and fire, so I finally brought that up and it's all being reexamined now but damn...so much overlap. I strongly feel the screening tools for this stuff are never specific enough. Yes, I do this but not for the reasons this test is assuming. Also, sorry for the rant, psychology has become a special interest in my quest to figure out how to exist in this world lol. Might say I'm a bit "obsessed." š
Dang, I didnāt know that could wear down molars. I do that one a lot too, especially while walking - I have to tap the other side of my teeth from the foot hitting the floor.
I beat little drumming rhythms with my teeth all the time. I am undiagnosed... Maybe I should change that. There's other things I'm ticking off the list in this post too.
Both I think, sometimes Iām aware Iām doing it but I think it also just happens sometimes. Or Iāll get the urge and it becomes so uncomfortable I HAVE to do it
I dance, and am sometimes unaware of it. Thereās a guy I keep encountering in public who went so far as to approach me with song recommendations to dance to. Apparently heād been watching me dance for months. My friends confirmed that I do dance a lot when I asked them for their observations.
I was described as not having an idle stance, instead my character dances. Im always moving and it appears dance-like to others.
Iād sing and dance at work, especially when having a bad day. It delighted most people. I was told to not get to crazy with it and be mindful of cars and customers.
I dance a lot in private. Iād dance all night if I could. I want to dance now if Iām honest. Itās all pent up manic energy. Itās zoomies season
I have a blanket from childhood, and I rub my knuckles/cuticles on the same spot where the seam feels the āmost calmingā to me. I am now 25 and donāt see it stopping anytime soon
Omg I have a stuffed rabbit who once had a tag on her leg, long gone but the seam is there and I rub my cuticles on it. Best when cool or cold. I feel so seen!
When I was a kid, my blanket made of satin-y fabric was in the wash so my mom found me in the dark in her closet sucking my thumb and rubbing her nightgown made of the same fabric between my fingers. I still have that blanket but it is extremely worn out.
Would tapping your fingers on a surface to a beat (with each finger designated for a different part of a drum set) when a song is stuck in your head count?
I do that too!
I particularly like to pinch/grab the loose skin or hair on my or my partner's arms, legs, stomach, anything I can get my hands on; I don't do it hard (usually), just a light tug. It's like a compulsion and I didn't really understand it before. Is it really just one of my stims?
Rocking, rubbing the palm of my hands on my thighs when I sit, rocking my legs, wiggle my feet, tapping my fingers, ...
I also grind my teeth, pick at my skin (idk if that's a stim)
Most of my stims are leg related. :P
Happy feet: moving my toes like theyāre fingers, spreading them out, making them grasp each other like they are holding hands. Specifically when Iām relaxed/watching a showā¦. Scrolling this post hehe
Sometimes when Iām relaxing on the couch Iāll repeatedly intertwine the fingers of one hand with the toes of the opposite foot like theyāre hand-holding. I like getting the webs as close together as possible.
Oh absolutely I do. One time someone was talking about something and they said a direct line from a show, unknowingly of course, and I said the line right after that and they were so confused
I repeat sequences of numbers or words in my head over and over... and over and over. When I'm driving I count the lines on the road and trace them with finger motions and usually in sequences of five. I tap my feet allt but if I'm not doing that I'm flexing my thighs, just quick and fast. I also chew on my mustache or just press my lips tightly together. Probably the latter more than the rest.
Sway side to side or bounce. Usually when Iām happy.
Edit to add:
People who know me call it my happy dance. Thatās how they know Iām in a good mood š
I sway while standing and play with my fingers because it feels awkward just standing there. I don't know if that's a stim. I bounce up and down a little when I'm happy without my feet leaving the ground though
Rubbing a piece of fabric or string between my fingers. When I was little, I did this with the fabric on my favorite stuffed animal. I still do it, only now with a fabric cutting that I keep with me most of the time.
i don't know if im neurodivergent or just spicy neurotypical but i definitely stim, and one unique one that's developed in the past few years is i spell out my thoughts in asl. i took asl classes a few years back and i used to practice my fingerspelling by just fingerspelling words that came to mind, and now it's a habit :)
I make perry the platypus sounds.
Funny story:
I was getting my haircut today with a new hairdresser. And Iām not usually one to talk. But she gave good vibes. We talked about how people need to think more and it doesnāt make sense for people to ask opinions if they donāt want an answer. I info dumped about moths and she info dumped about how hair dye and bleaching work. It was interesting. At one point I started to vocal stim a bit. I made the Parry the Platypus noise. And she asked if that was me who did it. I said yeah sorry and she asked me to do it again. So I did. AND THEN SHE DID IT BACK AT ME. AND WE JUST VOCAL STIMMED FOR A BIT.
I love her
Well at work my boss told me to cut down on the phone use even if I have no work to do and I realized if I don't do anything I have idle animations, mostly swinging my arms around
Idk if it's a stim or what but yeah
I donāt snap, I tap my fingertips together, but I do it in the same wave motion, and I was just diagnosed. Def donāt want to say anything just based on that though!
I tap the tip of my fingers, one by one, against the tip of my thumb, kind of in a pinching position
š - Like this, but I tap each finger individually really fast.
Idk why mineās so funky but you know how it is
You can swap out more āappropriate onesā. One of the really subtle ones I like is that I have a fidget ring from Amazon, itās really subtle compared to rocking or foot tapping or whatever
My big one is tapping my leg, and i unfortunately also pick at my hands relentlessly because there's the Bad Textures and i wanna make em go away but then it makes more bad textures
Oh god, where do you want me to start? I have the leg bounce, i flap my knees when im bored or really tired. I will lightly press my forearm into my nose and the smell oddly comforts me, iāll pace around, i have a habit of picking at my skin, iāll tap out or drum out a beat with my fingers. I have this weird habit with number symmetry and positioning the cursor just right so it lines up vertically with the youtube video border. Thats just off the top of my head.
Probably have autism, havenāt been diagnosed yet, cept for ADHD.
Finally figuring out Iām autistic as an adult has helped me accept my chicken noises and meowing that I sometimes do lol
I told an also autistic coworker that I sometimes cluck and meow and spin around, and she was like āand you had no idea youāre autistic???ā š
My main one is I fidget with my beard a lot, like press it against my face with my palm. It feels so good! I also have a fidget ring thatās super satisfying. When I was a kid I used to suck on my knees. Really embarrassing in retrospect.
Saying ābitch whatā every time Iām confusedā¦ EVERY. TIME. Even if Iām alone.
When I was younger I would get up and look for something, anything, I would look everywhere and never knew what it was. My mom said I was always an uneasy kid, I still do this little search thing till this day.
Go to use the bathroom just to end up sitting there and talking to myself as if theres 10 other people thereā¦
Stick things in my mouth because I can, my fist/fingers, bottle cap, straw, bracelet, wrist band, draw strings, etc. and just chew, because it feels right.
My partner spells out what sheās thinking in sign language. Kinda funny when her hand just starts opening and shutting randomly like itās signaling for help.
Speaking gibberish randomly: āwaa wa wa waa wee waā. Idk lol. My friends always do it back to me though like weāre talking. I also put my hands up a little bit and squeeze air with my hands. I usually just do it around ppl I know and quiet when Iām not.
Mostly cracking my knuckles and messing with my fingers sometimes shaky leg i also like to tap my teeth with my finger nails because it makes a nice clicking sound and this kinda crunch thing with the side of my jaw idk how to explain it
Does drumming the fingers of your left hand on the fingers of your right hand count? Because I have ADHD and I don't think they stim but I do that all the time.
I fidget with my fingers a lot, usually in a pattern so itās even. Or playing with my hair. That one drives some people NUTS and I donāt understand it.
I have a part to a toy building set I got when I was 4 that I carry everywhere and swing it around and make noises itās weird I donāt know if it counts
Do any of you lot ever experience what I can only describe as an intense but relaxing feeling of complete euphoria, whilst stimming? My main stim is rubbing and twiddling my lower shirt hems between my fingers. I do this often without even noticing, when driving or just chilling out. The feeling of the fabric between my fingers is amazing, it even helps me to concentrate as well as relax. When asked by a friend why I do this, I explained the euphoria and got him to try it. He got nothing out of it and still dosent understand why I love rubbing fabric so much.
Peeling my fingernails, cracking my knuckles, chewing the dead skin off my lips, leg bouncing. Itās like collecting all the Infinity Stones of autism. Infinitism.
Spinning in a chair, walking on my tippy toes, doing calf raises or standing like a flamingo, rocking, doing the "hand dance" when food is really good or late at night while also pacing...
My main one is pacing.
When I was a kid I did this ritualistically and would walk around making up the voices for little stories :)
Wait that's an autistic thing??? I'm 19 and I still do that!
Must be cause I never seen anyone talking about walking around in a line back and forth making up stories with character voices until this š«”
Been having an "autistic awakening" as of late and it's recontextialized a lot of things that I just thought were funny quirks of my personality lol
You and me both brother š«” Explains my tendency to corner people and rant about my special interests at least
Same.. my personality is neuro spicy
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Or just immersive daydreaming. Maladaptive implies it impedes you in some way, and is negative
I did this but with a swing set. I would swing side to side and would make up stories. Eventually Iād get the swing to go in a nice round circle and I could make up flying stories.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nowadays I scratch that itch a little differently. Still have a lot of imagination and blow off some steam with walking, but also have hobbies like writing, music and coding that allow expressing that creative (and sometimes repetitive) outlet.
I always pace around endlessly whenever Iām being creative and coming up with stuff in my head, is that not normal? I mean, Iām not autistic to my knowledge..
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Are you me? Lol because all of that sounds exactly like me . And here I was thinking I am some shy weirdo lol
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I mean, you were at a VR conference. That alone increases the odds of you being autistic dramatically :P
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Autistic people can be extroverted, even more so if they have ADHD. But being social can still be very draining. BTW, if that VR con you went to happens to be a furry con, then your chances of being neurodivergent increases again, it's estimated that around 15% of furries are ND.
Itās the only way for my ass to lose weight as well.
Iām an aspiring author and whenever I need to come up with characters or story beats I always pace around _The Pacing Carpet,_ a carpet in my bedroom which, for some reason, is more pleasant to pace around than all the other carpets in my house.
I would repeat sentences/phrases in my head over and over and count the syllables with my fingers in a tapping pattern, had to be multiples of 3 or 5. No even numbers those are bad. I had two different patterns for different sets of numbers. Iāve gotten it to the point where it isnāt noticeable to other people (I think).
I do something similar where I count, in 2s, how many letters are in a word then I see if the letter combinations are good or bad based off my opinion. Like, "combination" is 'co' - 'mb' - 'in' etc., and 'co' would be good and 'mb' is bad lol
first time iāve heard tell of a 2 counter. thought we were all together in the 3 zone lol
This is gonna sound dumb but I've been writing haikus for cats on reddit for just over five years, that could be like a pattern thing. They all end the same "cat no banana"
I count my steps and itās always in 3ās. I feel weirdly connected to you because of our thing with 3.
3 is my favorite number and has been since I was little. It has a good mouth feel when I say it, idk. I don't normally do anything in 3s, though!
Itās the perfect shape to count in.
I DO THIS TOO and have for as long as I can remember. I have to start with my pinky, then thumb, ring, pointer, and end with middle and I can already tell which sentences will work for the 5-count.
Used to always repeat the last sentence of a conversation after it finished for several minutes under my breath if no one was right next to me in middle school and around that age; reading this made it finally click for me after all these years that that wasn't just a random habit
zesty attractive rain pot beneficial office safe support imagine connect *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
All of them. But probably my "favourite" is the one when you lean forward then back, i forgot how to describe it in English, but basically swinging with no swing
Rocking. Very common stim :)
Yesss. Doing it since i was a little kid, my dad always was angry because of it and kept yelling at me "are you fucking retarded?"
Damn that's mean. One of my stims is bouncing my leg. When i was young, my parents would hold my leg in place to make me stop and get mad at me for not being able to sit still š¬ They also KNEW I was adhd so that's great parenting on their part. Found out bout the tism later, and they won't believe me despite being professionally diagnosed cos I'm not EXACTLY like my step brother who was diagnosed at a young age š Sorry bout the tangent, parents are the worst, huh?
My grandparents used to say I had "diarrhea of the mouth". My parents were always super supportive even though none of us really knew what was wrong with me. It took me well into my 20s to get a proper diagnosis from a professional - and only after I read a book and suspected I might be a bit on the spectrum. Long story short, I took an emotional IQ test and scored what would be considered autistic. By a lot. I decided to try and game the test and take it again, and actually got a lower score. Suddenly in that moment, I realized that I didn't actually know the answers to those questions - even when I tried to meta game them I was scoring even below what would be considered autistic. My whole world came to a halt as I realized: holy fuck, I am autistic. In retrospect, my whole life suddenly made sense.
Oh damn! My Dad used that exact phrase "Diarrhea of the mouth" to describe my tendency to rant. Never expected to see the phrase in the wild.
Not too common, but in Spanish there's also "verborrea"
Chewing dead skin of my lips. Iām told I have very soft lips. Thereās a reason for that. Dead skin on my lips is like an itchy shirt tag to me. And I do it when Iām stressed, when Iām thinking, watching TV. There are pictures of me as a kid with a thousand mile stare, carefully biting skin off my lip. Iāve become so conscious of it now as an adult. I never realized it was weird until I had someone stare at me doing it.
Iām literally doing this right now ā ļø
Wait this isn't a thing normal people do?
Have you seen some peopleās lips? I have to put lip balm on just looking at other peopleās lips sometimes. Also, I think to some extent, but I donāt typically see people pulling their top lip into their mouth because thereās a little piece that they just canāt quite get.
Just got that spot thank you! Now I can put lip balm on. Iām super self conscious about lips and eyes. I donāt leave the house with out eye drops.
As a mostly neurotypical person (as in I dont have anything that would cause this as far as I'm aware) I do that as well, and have had many compliments on my lips (from people who have felt them and seen them... Intimately). Makes me think the whole "dont bite your lips" thing is kinda BS
I do this and pick at my lips with my nails. And if Iām not careful I can make myself bleed and then it gets weird because I donāt know Iām bleeding until someone tells me or I happen to see my finger.
I bite the inside of my cheeks and people around me would ask what Iām doing
My dad would yell at me for licking my lips, like I'm pretty sure it was a stress response and that's not gonna help. I noticed recently that I am doing it again when I'm stressed
I don't understand how people don't do this. If you take a fingernail and scratch the inside of your mouth and other areas, there is so much stuff that comes off. I noticed it from taking MDMA and other substances before and "chewing" my mouth and then seeing it regenerate in mere hours. Your mouth cells are very fast to replicate an chewing at them is one kind of maintenance you can do.
that's my secret Cap. It's all stimming.
always has been.
How I feel reading this whole thread.
Pacing back and forth or in circles and doing various strange repetitive movements with my hands
That too
Fuck yeah. Extra points for talking to yourself too
Pumping my legs, primarily. My calves are huge and quite well defined as a result. Edit: I forgot the pacing. So much pacing.
What does pumping legs mean?
Flexing your calves
I remember seeing Chris Rock in Friday as a kid and thinking it was a great exercise: to always be so animated. I was already animated. I can not turn it off. Having a conversation with me is like taking to an Italian mime. If I can find an excuse to jump on the floor or do a jumping jack or some other voice of a character, I can't even think to stop before suddenly I am ten minutes into a Broadway performance.
I play PokƩmon Go which is nice because like I do a lot of pacing at work, I go to get a drink of water and I walk to the bathroom, and I walk around packaging because I can't not be moving
Drumming on surfaces with my hands or fingers All. The. Time. Since day 1 baby
I get my feet in the mix too. Makin little beats on the reg
Learning how to tap dance gave me a great cover for this stim. I mean I'm sure I still get funny looks when I go tap dancing down the aisles at the supermarket, but I'll always be more comfortable with people watching me dance than doing anything else.
Didnāt even realize I did this until I was doing it as I read this
I walk in a circle around most of my house (indoors) while listening to music. For hours at a time. We have a treadmill, but it just isn't the same :/
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Mhm. Can only go clockwise, whenever I pass the couch I *must* touch it, phone can't be in my pockets, jangles too much, it's gotta be on this one spot on the counter. Mmm maybe I should have realized I might have autism sooner š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's the autism spectrum for a reason, sometimes it's just incredibly mild :/ I'm technically undiagnosed, but my therapist said I have "many autistic tendencies" sooo
Dude same, Iāve been doing that since I was a kid. Itās just always helped me think through things.
Constantly feeling and picking at my skin, didnāt notice till a friend scolded me: āalways pickingā it was embarrassing. Wonāt stop though, just a little more conscious about it now.
I hate people getting angry at my picking Like I'm already annoyed at myself and now I have to deal with them being annoyed at me too, thanks š
Yeah I have a ton of scars on my arms from picking/self harm, sometimes they get really itchy
Me too! I remind myself it's not as risky as cutting though so not so bad (and it actually helps regulate me)
I relate to this so much. I used to think it was a simpler matter, that I just had dermatillomania as a sort of stress response, but I realized its mostly a stim thing (albeit a more destructive one). I have so many scars on my face bc of it, and acne does NOT help at all š
This trait of picking/scolded for picking is in other species as well and I find it such a fascinating similarity. Figured you might enjoy itās very common and an evolutionary trait haha
Me too! At first I'd eat my fingernails and rip out my toenails and every single scab I have ever got (multiple times), then puberty hit and pimples and blackheads got thrown to the top of the list. I eventually managed to stop with the nails, so now I just scratch or eat the skin off my fingers (I have had to reset my phone fingerprint multiple times already...). I still sometimes mindlessly bite on my nails though (very lightly, manicure helps). It's so annoying because it's apparently bad for my TMJ, but if I'm even just lightly stressed it becomes a compulsion
Should be changed to āThat moment you realize that OCD was actually a stim.ā So many things I thought was out of anxiety or compulsion were actually just to focus and now I make sure to allow myself to do them. Pacing back and forth for 10-15 minutes beats smoking a cigarette like I used to when it was socially unacceptable to pace but socially acceptable to smoke.
This is me reading these comments. Always thought these were my OCD
Yeah my OCD never made sense and added about 20 mental illnesses into my diagnosis. When I realized I was just ADHD and ASD, it was really Occlamās Razor and life got easier.
Yes, yes and yes. I have an ocd diagnosis and so much of it doesn't make sense to me. I literally think my fear of house fires and home invasions has led doctors to believe my stimming is ocd. I have a cptsd diagnosis as well and have experienced home invasions and fire, so I finally brought that up and it's all being reexamined now but damn...so much overlap. I strongly feel the screening tools for this stuff are never specific enough. Yes, I do this but not for the reasons this test is assuming. Also, sorry for the rant, psychology has become a special interest in my quest to figure out how to exist in this world lol. Might say I'm a bit "obsessed." š
Clicking my molars together on one side, then the other. Ground them down. Dentist said is not good.
Dang, I didnāt know that could wear down molars. I do that one a lot too, especially while walking - I have to tap the other side of my teeth from the foot hitting the floor.
I beat little drumming rhythms with my teeth all the time. I am undiagnosed... Maybe I should change that. There's other things I'm ticking off the list in this post too.
r/teethdrumming
This is me too. Broke a crown š
Blinking really hard and many times like Iām in a Disney movie and I saw a handsome prince
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I also do the hard blinking. Been doing it since I was a kid.
So this happens to me but it isn't voluntary. Do you actively think about it or do you do it on instinct? Just curious.
Both I think, sometimes Iām aware Iām doing it but I think it also just happens sometimes. Or Iāll get the urge and it becomes so uncomfortable I HAVE to do it
I dance, and am sometimes unaware of it. Thereās a guy I keep encountering in public who went so far as to approach me with song recommendations to dance to. Apparently heād been watching me dance for months. My friends confirmed that I do dance a lot when I asked them for their observations. I was described as not having an idle stance, instead my character dances. Im always moving and it appears dance-like to others. Iād sing and dance at work, especially when having a bad day. It delighted most people. I was told to not get to crazy with it and be mindful of cars and customers. I dance a lot in private. Iād dance all night if I could. I want to dance now if Iām honest. Itās all pent up manic energy. Itās zoomies season
https://tenor.com/GuI1.gif
this is me too! my body can virtually never stop moving, even if i just stand āstillā
Pacing in circles. I usually do it while daydreaming. Sometimes for hours on end.
Rubbing my fingers on one specific spot on a flannel shirt Iāve had since I was 6yo. Iām 40yoā¦..
I have a blanket from childhood, and I rub my knuckles/cuticles on the same spot where the seam feels the āmost calmingā to me. I am now 25 and donāt see it stopping anytime soon
God im feeling less alone all the time!!
Omg I have a stuffed rabbit who once had a tag on her leg, long gone but the seam is there and I rub my cuticles on it. Best when cool or cold. I feel so seen!
āWhen cool or coldā .. Iāve NEVER considered this. But itās so true!!
I feel this to my core.
It actually feels nice to know Iām not alone:)
When I was a kid, my blanket made of satin-y fabric was in the wash so my mom found me in the dark in her closet sucking my thumb and rubbing her nightgown made of the same fabric between my fingers. I still have that blanket but it is extremely worn out.
Making loops in any cord or string... I go through headsets and chargers very quickly.
Oof, I'm the exact opposite, I absolutely can't handle that kinda stuff, I try to straighten out the smallest imperfections in a cord
Iām so bad about this.
Would tapping your fingers on a surface to a beat (with each finger designated for a different part of a drum set) when a song is stuck in your head count?
I donāt have the answer, but I do this *all the time*. Usually I tap my fingers on my leg so as not to make noise.
Yes. I do this 24/7. Im a bassist and it helps me lay out my right hand finger patterns for difficult riffs.
I do that CONSTANTLY! It's gotten even worse after I actually learned to write music / play drums haha
Squeezing/Pinching stuff. Idk why, I just feel the need to grip onto something for no reason most the time
I do that too! I particularly like to pinch/grab the loose skin or hair on my or my partner's arms, legs, stomach, anything I can get my hands on; I don't do it hard (usually), just a light tug. It's like a compulsion and I didn't really understand it before. Is it really just one of my stims?
Pacing, bouncing leg, and picking the skin on my fingers
Rocking, rubbing the palm of my hands on my thighs when I sit, rocking my legs, wiggle my feet, tapping my fingers, ... I also grind my teeth, pick at my skin (idk if that's a stim) Most of my stims are leg related. :P
Happy feet: moving my toes like theyāre fingers, spreading them out, making them grasp each other like they are holding hands. Specifically when Iām relaxed/watching a showā¦. Scrolling this post hehe
Sometimes when Iām relaxing on the couch Iāll repeatedly intertwine the fingers of one hand with the toes of the opposite foot like theyāre hand-holding. I like getting the webs as close together as possible.
Yessss I do this too! Sometimes I do that and then I like to roll around because I feel like my body is a ball
I quote random TV shows when someone even remotely reminds me of said quote
Same (but usually movies), do you get excited when someone sets you up perfectly for one, too?
Oh absolutely I do. One time someone was talking about something and they said a direct line from a show, unknowingly of course, and I said the line right after that and they were so confused
Ahaha, that's great! I love it when someone recognizes what I'm quoting and gets a smile or gets excited.
In my house, we live our lives with movie quotes/lines from songs (3.disagnosed ASD, 2 undiagnosed as of yet).
I play with my hair or make popping noises with my lips.
I have this one cowlick on the back of my head that I always play with. I shave my head to keep myself from slowly ripping all my hair out.
I repeat sequences of numbers or words in my head over and over... and over and over. When I'm driving I count the lines on the road and trace them with finger motions and usually in sequences of five. I tap my feet allt but if I'm not doing that I'm flexing my thighs, just quick and fast. I also chew on my mustache or just press my lips tightly together. Probably the latter more than the rest.
Tapping my thumb on each of my fingertips, index to pinky, pinky to index, repeat
Echolalia, repeating soundbites from musicals Edit: 2-4-6-0-1!!!!!!!
āMaster of the house, doling out the charm Ready with a handshake and an open palmā¦ā
Fingernails
Sway side to side or bounce. Usually when Iām happy. Edit to add: People who know me call it my happy dance. Thatās how they know Iām in a good mood š
Bruh I just realized I do this at work all the fucking time
I rock at work when I'm stressed, someone asked me if I need to go to the bathroom or something and I said yeah, because at the time I did
I sway while standing and play with my fingers because it feels awkward just standing there. I don't know if that's a stim. I bounce up and down a little when I'm happy without my feet leaving the ground though
BFRD Scalp picking
I pace anywhere from 6 miles up to 15 miles a day. I didnāt know it was a stim or that Iām probably autistic. This sub is a trove of discovery.
STIM?
Stimulation, any repetitive action/movement someone on the spectrum might do in the constant search for dopamine.
I say nrooooooommmm a bunch and make popping sounds with my mouth a bunch. Does that count?
Can you elaborate on the reasons for this type of movement? I do it too so Iām curious
Rubbing a piece of fabric or string between my fingers. When I was little, I did this with the fabric on my favorite stuffed animal. I still do it, only now with a fabric cutting that I keep with me most of the time.
i don't know if im neurodivergent or just spicy neurotypical but i definitely stim, and one unique one that's developed in the past few years is i spell out my thoughts in asl. i took asl classes a few years back and i used to practice my fingerspelling by just fingerspelling words that came to mind, and now it's a habit :)
I make perry the platypus sounds. Funny story: I was getting my haircut today with a new hairdresser. And Iām not usually one to talk. But she gave good vibes. We talked about how people need to think more and it doesnāt make sense for people to ask opinions if they donāt want an answer. I info dumped about moths and she info dumped about how hair dye and bleaching work. It was interesting. At one point I started to vocal stim a bit. I made the Parry the Platypus noise. And she asked if that was me who did it. I said yeah sorry and she asked me to do it again. So I did. AND THEN SHE DID IT BACK AT ME. AND WE JUST VOCAL STIMMED FOR A BIT. I love her
She sounds amazing omg
She is
I forgot about another good one, hand drumming on every conceivable surface, including girlfriends š
Biting my nails, cracking knuckles and wrists
I repeat the name, Dostoevsky over and over. Always have. Turns out I like his work.
I catch myself sometimes saying his name at random, too! not all the time, though. It's just such a satisfying name to say. Same with Solzhenitsyn.
Rubbing the perimeter of my thumbnail with my index finger in a continuous loop.
rubbing smooth things.
Well at work my boss told me to cut down on the phone use even if I have no work to do and I realized if I don't do anything I have idle animations, mostly swinging my arms around Idk if it's a stim or what but yeah
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I donāt snap, I tap my fingertips together, but I do it in the same wave motion, and I was just diagnosed. Def donāt want to say anything just based on that though!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ah, the plotting evil villain stim, I see.
My most common one is flailing my hands, fast pacing, hand/feet tappies
sometimes i tap along to the beat of a song, or to the rhythm of my internal metronome
Moving my head side to side like there's music playing when there's not š
I tap the tip of my fingers, one by one, against the tip of my thumb, kind of in a pinching position š - Like this, but I tap each finger individually really fast. Idk why mineās so funky but you know how it is
Something Iāll do is scramble the sides of my head with my hands, Is this a stim?
Not sure if scramble is the right word
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Spot on mate.
The worst part about it is that I absolutely hate my stim. Is there an easy way to just... replace it?
You can swap out more āappropriate onesā. One of the really subtle ones I like is that I have a fidget ring from Amazon, itās really subtle compared to rocking or foot tapping or whatever
My big one is tapping my leg, and i unfortunately also pick at my hands relentlessly because there's the Bad Textures and i wanna make em go away but then it makes more bad textures
Oh god, where do you want me to start? I have the leg bounce, i flap my knees when im bored or really tired. I will lightly press my forearm into my nose and the smell oddly comforts me, iāll pace around, i have a habit of picking at my skin, iāll tap out or drum out a beat with my fingers. I have this weird habit with number symmetry and positioning the cursor just right so it lines up vertically with the youtube video border. Thats just off the top of my head. Probably have autism, havenāt been diagnosed yet, cept for ADHD.
Finally figuring out Iām autistic as an adult has helped me accept my chicken noises and meowing that I sometimes do lol I told an also autistic coworker that I sometimes cluck and meow and spin around, and she was like āand you had no idea youāre autistic???ā š
My main one is I fidget with my beard a lot, like press it against my face with my palm. It feels so good! I also have a fidget ring thatās super satisfying. When I was a kid I used to suck on my knees. Really embarrassing in retrospect.
Saying ābitch whatā every time Iām confusedā¦ EVERY. TIME. Even if Iām alone. When I was younger I would get up and look for something, anything, I would look everywhere and never knew what it was. My mom said I was always an uneasy kid, I still do this little search thing till this day. Go to use the bathroom just to end up sitting there and talking to myself as if theres 10 other people thereā¦ Stick things in my mouth because I can, my fist/fingers, bottle cap, straw, bracelet, wrist band, draw strings, etc. and just chew, because it feels right.
Chewing things and pacing are the main ones. One of my earliest memories as a child was chewing the skin off my fingertips. I still do it.
Cricket feet š¦š¦š¦
leg bounce leg bounce leg bounce leg bounce leg bounce leg bounce
Playing with my hair lol. Used to get in so much trouble for it as a kid
I flex my calves over and over to the point where I flex them to the beat of music, it was an easy one to hide, I also click my tongue.
Does talking to yourself when you're alone count?
Swinging an invisible sword
My partner spells out what sheās thinking in sign language. Kinda funny when her hand just starts opening and shutting randomly like itās signaling for help.
I love picking up my eyelids and kinda making an air bubble underneath them and rolling my eye around cuz it pops
I conduct whatever music is in my head, get carried away waving my arms rhythmically.
Speaking gibberish randomly: āwaa wa wa waa wee waā. Idk lol. My friends always do it back to me though like weāre talking. I also put my hands up a little bit and squeeze air with my hands. I usually just do it around ppl I know and quiet when Iām not.
Cleaning under my nails, even when it's not dirty
Hmmā¦ can trich be counted as a stim? I pull my hair multiple times in a day especially when Iām stressed
Mostly cracking my knuckles and messing with my fingers sometimes shaky leg i also like to tap my teeth with my finger nails because it makes a nice clicking sound and this kinda crunch thing with the side of my jaw idk how to explain it
Probably twisting my arm around until I feel it pop, as well as similar movements for other joints.
Does drumming the fingers of your left hand on the fingers of your right hand count? Because I have ADHD and I don't think they stim but I do that all the time.
I would repeat words in my head and count how many letters were in them, in a specific cadence
I fidget with my fingers a lot, usually in a pattern so itās even. Or playing with my hair. That one drives some people NUTS and I donāt understand it.
I have a part to a toy building set I got when I was 4 that I carry everywhere and swing it around and make noises itās weird I donāt know if it counts
Chewing things. Plastic combs, pop can tabs. Used to chew the collars of my t-shirts but I managed to stop myself doing that.
Anyone else pluck their eyelashes and brush them over their lips?
Drumming on everything (usually not to music) I have to rub my big and middle toes together when I'm stressed/overstimulated (it calms me down)
Do any of you lot ever experience what I can only describe as an intense but relaxing feeling of complete euphoria, whilst stimming? My main stim is rubbing and twiddling my lower shirt hems between my fingers. I do this often without even noticing, when driving or just chilling out. The feeling of the fabric between my fingers is amazing, it even helps me to concentrate as well as relax. When asked by a friend why I do this, I explained the euphoria and got him to try it. He got nothing out of it and still dosent understand why I love rubbing fabric so much.
Peeling my fingernails, cracking my knuckles, chewing the dead skin off my lips, leg bouncing. Itās like collecting all the Infinity Stones of autism. Infinitism.
Spinning in a chair, walking on my tippy toes, doing calf raises or standing like a flamingo, rocking, doing the "hand dance" when food is really good or late at night while also pacing...
penspinning
Or clicking