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OzAspi
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21 Jun 2010, 1:19 am

Ever since I was a kid I have had facial tics. They have ranged from squinting my eyes to opening my eyes really wide to screwing up my nose and all sorts of other things.
Is this related to stimming? Or is more an OCD related thing?
Its hard to control but I can control it when Im in a conversation or I know someone is focused on my face.



LancetChick
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21 Jun 2010, 1:56 am

OzAspi wrote:
Its hard to control but I can control it when Im in a conversation or I know someone is focused on my face.


What I just quoted from your response describes my stimming (rocking, walking in circles) to a tee. It seems automatic, because I do it without thinking, but once the spotlight is on me, I discover a braking mechanism for my stimming. If I don't stim, I'm "on alert" and not relaxed, but I can handle that... I just use stimming as a different way of relaxing than NTs.... doesn't mean I have to be relaxing all the time, but social encounters definitely stress me out more than NTs, so Temple Grandin's "1 hour of stimming per day" would be horrifying, to say the least. I NEED to rock and walk in circles! That's how I think best. And there's my NT father who said that he couldn't think straight unless he was pacing. Whatever floats your boat!



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21 Jun 2010, 4:57 am

I think facial tics are completely involuntary and stims aren't even if sometimes you're not consciously aware you're doing them. I had a brief bout of facial tics after years of Ritalin and Concerta use and my face was in spasms, it wasn't voluntary at all.



OzAspi
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21 Jun 2010, 6:49 am

I think some can be involuntary especially if its a result of a drug perhaps, then its more of a physical thing where your face may twitch and you have no control.
I can control my tics if I focus on stopping it.
Think of it this way, if you have an itch, you have a strong cumpulsion to scratch and if you are in a relaxed state you will scratch without really thinking about it to much, it's an automatic response but...you CAN stop your hand from scratching the itch...if you make the conscious decision to Thats what tics are like for me, I can control it and hold it back but the more I hold it back the more it "itches"



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21 Jun 2010, 6:53 am

I read in Tony Attwood's book that twitches/tics are caused because a little bit of Motor Tourette's crosses over with Asperger's.

It's not the same as stimming.



OzAspi
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21 Jun 2010, 7:18 am

ok thats interesting thanks. I want to read some of his books, have heard good things about them



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21 Jun 2010, 10:04 am

From what I know and remember reading, they aren't.


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21 Jun 2010, 9:50 pm

i don't think a facial twitch that you have control over is a tic. i have occasionally had some facial tics, and they are a runaway train (although definitely a direct result of anxiety at being watched). i do have some stims and they start on their own but can be halted if nec. but usually something else will pop up in its place, or i will get very tense. i do have some squinting / nose scritching type stims - not the same as a facial tic.

this motor-tourettes business someone mentioned sounds on the mark.


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21 Jun 2010, 10:04 pm

It could very well be a motor-tic disorder. You might also want to check if you make grunting sounds and the sort - that would make it Tourette's.


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01 Jul 2010, 9:29 am

Not sure if they're the same, but I think there may be a connection. Having suffered various facial tics since being a child, I'm disapointed about how little is known of them. The medical profession doesn't seem to bother, which is a shame as if I could change 1 thing about myself, it would be to get rid of the tics. Sometimes I wonder if my social difficulties are less to do with AS and more due to people feeling uncomfortable around what they consider to be a freak with tics.

I also have some stims, but they are far less compulsive. They seem more like making one feel better, more relaxed. Self-calming that can quite easily be stopped if required. Tics are about an ever-increasing tension that becomes unbearable, and is impossible to stop even in the most inappropriate situation. :cry:

The thing is that nervousness and tics feedback horribly, it isn't just nerves that cause tics, tics cause nervousness! And some things I've read seem to get the 'voluntary', 'involuntary' aspects wrong. The tic is generally voluntary, it is the urgeto tic that is involuntary. It is like scratching an itch, you have to do it to relieve the tension that builds until it's overwhelming. I've tried to force myself to stop, but unlike a physical addiction, I've never found a 'pain barrier' that can be broken through after which the urge goes away.

Maybe it's something to do with dopamine processing in the brain? http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/283.aspx


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01 Jul 2010, 10:35 am

I am curious about this myself. When I was a kid I had tics- coughing and blinking. My parents took me to a bunch of doctors and I think the end result was they thought I had Tourette's. But now I've read that a Tourette's diagnosis should include a verbal tic as well.

The tics went away, but I wonder if they were a sign of AS.



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05 Jul 2013, 3:18 pm

Nope. If it weren't, they would be things like flicking your fingers or hand flapping. Tics also don't have a pattern, while stimming does. Your brain chooses a pattern it likes and stims in that pattern. When you tic, you do it because you can't control it or feels really good or to relive an uncomfortable sensation elsewhere.


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