"{Stereotyped and repetitive motor behaviors are a core

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peterd
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20 Mar 2009, 5:07 am

When I was two, I spent a couple of weeks in hospital, and learned - the hard way - to shut up and stay still. Yes, that's repetitive behaviour too.

By the time thirty years had gone by, and I'd mostly avoided human contact, my children started to grow up and I started to practice communication. Well, it seemed like it must be communication to me, although it seldom had beneficial effects.

Twenty years more went by... I ran into an Aspergers diagnosis... now I'm just confused.



Liresse
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20 Mar 2009, 5:23 am

[quote="millie"][/quote]

1. "weird sensory integration stuff" also wondering!
2. "ADHD? what is this?" also wondering!
3. "unbearable need to stretch" absolutely. rack. fantastic. also into pressure, controllable pressure is awesome
4. "arms stretched and swinging" i don't walk like this, but i will stand still and RANDOMLY stretch my arms (my elbows bend a bit backwards), spread-eagle style, as far back as I can.
5. "high anxiety", feedback loop are you sure you're not a short asian girl? i could swear we were twins or long lost cousins or something.
6. "complex stretches" "contort" ahhh yes yes yes i never could explain why i did that either. was like "i haven't stretched enough yet" (middle of the day)

ahhh. and i guess it doesn't count as "repetitive movement," this need to stretch, but we do it a lot and it's certainly stimulating!

i don't exercise much. the thing with getting hot. :(. (or cold, since we tried this too: I've discovered I'm also not inclined to shiver in a cold pool every morning either.)


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just-me
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20 Mar 2009, 7:10 am

I'm in constant motion from stimming.
At my parents house I had a swing I would sit on and swing most of the day. The motion calms me . If I stop I start feeling a sensation on my skin like feathers rubbing against it.

The stimming motion seems to keep it away though. Is this a common occurrence because I always thought I was the only one to get this feeling if I stop stimming. But I never asked. Does anyone else get this sensation?

Its so bad that its hard to sleep. Because I have to keep moving until I fall asleep or the sensation of feather's touching my skin comes back.

I'm wondering if this is a symptom of aspergers or something else.



whitetiger
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20 Mar 2009, 8:36 am

Interesting, Toucan.

My AS BF doesn't stim at all.

I do, and I also trace the infinity symbol (along with letters, numbers, patterns, etc.) on my leg with my finger.


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melissa17b
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20 Mar 2009, 8:39 am

just-me wrote:
I'm in constant motion from stimming.
At my parents house I had a swing I would sit on and swing most of the day. The motion calms me . If I stop I start feeling a sensation on my skin like feathers rubbing against it.

The stimming motion seems to keep it away though. Is this a common occurrence because I always thought I was the only one to get this feeling if I stop stimming. But I never asked. Does anyone else get this sensation?

Its so bad that its hard to sleep. Because I have to keep moving until I fall asleep or the sensation of feather's touching my skin comes back.

I'm wondering if this is a symptom of aspergers or something else.


Just-me, it's not just you that experiences this. I too am constantly stimming in some manner or other, sometimes three of four different concurrent motions, and if I try to stop I can only last for a minute or two. The sensation is unbearable. It changes in nature throughout the day, taking the form of my joints being lightly touched from the inside during the morning and early afternoon to my skin crawling from the inside out during the evening and night. Getting to sleep is always an adventure. My brain and body get tired at different times. When "in phase", I can lie down, and I'll detect a subtle and distinctive smell, which I also experience as a taste and texture with colour (can't describe it any better than this). On these all-too-rare nights, I'll drift to sleep within seconds of receiving this brain signal. However, when things are out of phase, it's going to be a long night. Most commonly, I'll suddenly become ultra-hypersensitive to sound and light, and need to close my eyes - my brain needs to sleep. However, as the body is still not tired, I wind up sort of working through this full-on zone-out, and return to full awakeness. But now when the body gets tired and wants to sleep, the brain is not ready, and sends out some other signal - which I can cannot describe but can sense and clearly identify the moment it happens - that overactivates my touch hypersensitivity. This exceptionally irritating restless state will persist until about 3-4AM most nights, but sometimes (such as three of the last four nights) will last the entire night. Perpetual motion is necessary to establish even a modicum of comfort during these times, and sometimes conventional low-grade stimming is not enough - I need to stand up, pace or walk even though I'm by now drop-dead tired. On these nights my "sleep" usually consists of an hour of so of wake-induced lucid dreaming in the early morning light. And this is under ideal conditions - dark, quiet and cool environment. Add even moderate amounts of light, noise or excessive warmth into the mix and sleep just isn't going to happen.

This no-rest nocturnal megasensitivity, as well as my inability to recognise feelings for hours or days after I experience them, are the two manifestations of my version of autism that I would get rid of if I could. Except maybe they would be replaced by something worse...



Liresse
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20 Mar 2009, 8:46 am

whitetiger wrote:
Interesting, Toucan.

My AS BF doesn't stim at all.

I do, and I also trace the infinity symbol (along with letters, numbers, patterns, etc.) on my leg with my finger.
ah! i feel strangely understood! ("making the infinity symbol" is not exactly a DSM-IV example.)


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Magicfly
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20 Mar 2009, 9:59 am

I didn't think I 'stimmed' either until I had to give it some thought for my assessment, and then realised I do:

I rock my head from side to side with my arms folded under my head with a towel pulled over my face to sleep, I like the repetative sensation of the terry-towel against my skin, I've done this since I was a baby and don't do it as much now, but on sleepless nights I always do it until I get sleepy again and drift off...

I also gently stroke my finger back and forth along my forearms because I also love the sensation and find it calming. According to my partner I also do this in my sleep.

I fidget when I'm supposed to stand still, to the point I've been in a queue at the store and the people in front of me said,

"Are you in a hurry or something?"

And I wasn't, I just don't like queues, hate shops, and so I'm very animated!

I also twirl things, anything, chopsticks, broomsticks, anything of twirlable size, unfortunately my walls have the marks because much as I like to twirl things, I'm not that great at it.



pandd
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20 Mar 2009, 10:13 am

So far as I know, I stim non-stop when awake.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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20 Mar 2009, 3:22 pm

Repetitive or stereotyped motor behaviour? I don't do this nearly as much as I used to. In fact it's very rare for me to do it now. When I was growing up, I did it more often. I used to spin and once, while at the baby sitters before school I rocked back and forth to a song in a cartoon. I was sitting on the couch, I remember it clearly even now.



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20 Mar 2009, 3:30 pm

Liresse wrote:
I am also interested in this thread. When I first thought I had AS, I thought I didn't have ANY stimming behaviours. But now I realise that is because if it is true stimming, then it's subconscious/unconscious - of course I wouldn't be aware of it.

Now that I am trying to catch myself stimming (amusing, actually) I see a bunch of "WEIRD STUFF" I've always done that isn't even particularly obviously stimming, which is actually technically a repetitive motor movement. This includes the predictable:
- rocking forwards and backwards
- jiggling both legs
- swaying side to side
- hopping from one foot to the other
- spinning pens
- rubbing random objects
- spinning on chairs

but also:
- clenching fists
- pointing/unpointing my toes while sitting (basically flexing ankle)
- inscribing an infinity sign (sideways figure 8) with my hand - modified hand flapping? lol
- highly modified infinity sign (looks like I'm conducting 4/4)
- rubbing the hair on the backs of my fingers against my lip
- rubbing my arms from shoulder to elbow

Most of you probably won't bother to read this post because it's not very remarkable, but to the OP: if you really feel you fit the AS criteria except for the stimming, you might want to soulsearch (without over-analysing yourself) for alternative realisations of "repetitive behaviour."

And anyway, I found it amusing to list them out.


OMG I do almost all those, I thought I didn't do that stuff either until I caught myself once


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just-me
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24 Mar 2009, 8:49 am

melissa17b wrote:
just-me wrote:
I'm in constant motion from stimming.
At my parents house I had a swing I would sit on and swing most of the day. The motion calms me . If I stop I start feeling a sensation on my skin like feathers rubbing against it.

The stimming motion seems to keep it away though. Is this a common occurrence because I always thought I was the only one to get this feeling if I stop stimming. But I never asked. Does anyone else get this sensation?

Its so bad that its hard to sleep. Because I have to keep moving until I fall asleep or the sensation of feather's touching my skin comes back.

I'm wondering if this is a symptom of aspergers or something else.


Just-me, it's not just you that experiences this. I too am constantly stimming in some manner or other, sometimes three of four different concurrent motions, and if I try to stop I can only last for a minute or two. The sensation is unbearable. It changes in nature throughout the day, taking the form of my joints being lightly touched from the inside during the morning and early afternoon to my skin crawling from the inside out during the evening and night. Getting to sleep is always an adventure. My brain and body get tired at different times. When "in phase", I can lie down, and I'll detect a subtle and distinctive smell, which I also experience as a taste and texture with colour (can't describe it any better than this). On these all-too-rare nights, I'll drift to sleep within seconds of receiving this brain signal. However, when things are out of phase, it's going to be a long night. Most commonly, I'll suddenly become ultra-hypersensitive to sound and light, and need to close my eyes - my brain needs to sleep. However, as the body is still not tired, I wind up sort of working through this full-on zone-out, and return to full awakeness. But now when the body gets tired and wants to sleep, the brain is not ready, and sends out some other signal - which I can cannot describe but can sense and clearly identify the moment it happens - that overactivates my touch hypersensitivity. This exceptionally irritating restless state will persist until about 3-4AM most nights, but sometimes (such as three of the last four nights) will last the entire night. Perpetual motion is necessary to establish even a modicum of comfort during these times, and sometimes conventional low-grade stimming is not enough - I need to stand up, pace or walk even though I'm by now drop-dead tired. On these nights my "sleep" usually consists of an hour of so of wake-induced lucid dreaming in the early morning light. And this is under ideal conditions - dark, quiet and cool environment. Add even moderate amounts of light, noise or excessive warmth into the mix and sleep just isn't going to happen.

This no-rest nocturnal megasensitivity, as well as my inability to recognise feelings for hours or days after I experience them, are the two manifestations of my version of autism that I would get rid of if I could. Except maybe they would be replaced by something worse...
I'm glad to know its not just me who has this.



Zyborg
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24 Mar 2009, 10:24 am

Gordon Ramsay seems to be man with many repetive motor problems. Just look at him in kitchen. He is moving around all time. That is just stressing.



Morgana
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24 Mar 2009, 5:03 pm

pandd wrote:
So far as I know, I stim non-stop when awake.


I think I´m this way too, it´s a rare moment when I´m still. I´m not sure how noticeable my stims are to other people- (well, some people have mentioned them, so they must be somewhat noticeable). Many of them are small, a lot of finger movements, but very repetitive and usually circular- (but I often hold my hands where people can´t see them). I rock a reasonable amount too, but in public I usually do this in a less noticeable way. Funny enough, I had no idea I was ever rocking until I started reading about AS, when I began to be more observant of my behaviors. And I do it quite a lot...

I think a big reason why I have found some relative success as an adult is due to my stims, actually. I notice when I interact with people, I stim a lot. They must be helping me focus or something.


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24 Mar 2009, 5:31 pm

I don't have stereotyped repetitive movements. When I stimmed with a string, I told stories or made "collections" of things in my mind to support the stories, like "she wore this and this and this". One flick of the string for every sentence in the story or every object in my collection (like one flick of the string fr every dress I imagined the girl wearing).



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24 Mar 2009, 9:47 pm

My younger brother's psychiatrist who diagnosed him as being on the spectrum referred to his stereotypical motor behaviours as auto-hypnosis. Interesting way to phrase it but it is true.


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