Stimming

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stimming is looked down upon...
my family find it very annoying that I have to do these things and simply cast them aside, like they are nothing
I have one real stim-blinking
I wear sunglasses so nobody sees

My most profound stim, is rocking in my sleep, when I was little id lie down on the bed on my side, arm under my body and rock back and forth, sometimes hitting the wall, as I got bigger I had to stop lying on my arm cause it was falling asleep, and to this day I do it, everynight, when I went to collage was the longest I had ever gone without rocking and the first few nights were horrible, never will I shair a room or bed with someone, NEVER!!

I fidgit alot, and always have a thought or song playing in my head. I also used to get on an office chair, kneel on it and spin, thats fun, but can only do that in private.

When typing something on here that is hard for me sometimes, ill get up and pace for a few seconds, come back, type more and do it again, heh.

So something like stroking a pet could be a stim.

Hmmm.....
I get the feeling that stims are more repetitive body movements that don't involve "things". Stims are supposed to be self stimulating. If it involved a "thing", it seems that would qualify it as a particular sensory stimulation... such as people who like to rub velvet because of its feel, but hate to touch satin for the same reason - it is not self stimulating but needs the velvet or the satin to solicit a response.... Liane Holliday Willey, in her book "Pretending to be Normal" wrote that she used to like to chew on sand paper, emory boards (nail files) and aluminum foil as a child... that is more a sensory pleasure with a thing as opposed to chewing your lip or cheek for comfort. I think you think less about chewing your cheek as opposed to having to go find an emory board to chomp on.
Maybe I have this wrong and it is all one and the same, but I think stimming is more like rocking, eye rolling, finger fluttering, thumb holding, tongue chewing, finger drumming, etc.
Now, if you did the same motion of stroking a pet when the pet wasn't there... that would probably qualify it as a stim!! !

what about clicking a pen or running a string of beads through your fingers over and over?

Hey, you don't have to yell.

OK, so does it really matter what we call it?

The fact is that when I described what I do to a doctor, when I was trying to get a Dyspraxia diagnosis, I was told "but that's something particular to Asperger's.... have you ever considered that you might have AS?"

Anyway, what I do is this (sounds much odder than most people's, but here goes....):

You know those leather bookmarks you used to be able to buy at stately homes and other tourist attractions as souvenirs?

I use one of the floppier types as what I call my "flapper".

When I am on my own reading, I roll up the solid end of it and "flap" the tasselled end all over the page of the book/magazine/newspaper I am reading, on and on all the time. I also like to experiment with how loosely/tightly the pages are held together so as to explore the sound it makes.

I do this to relax and to help me concentrate and what I get from it are the whole combination of the lovely sounds it makes, the "strobe" effect over the text I am reading and the comforting feeling of holding something of that texture in my hand.

I don't do this in front of other people, obviously - it would drive them nuts!! As well as having them think I am a total freak.

Needless to say, I live on my own. (My cat doesn't seem to mind.)

It's good to be able to finally be able to talk about this as it is normally my best-kept secret & the only people who know are my parents (those same people who will not accept there is anything wrong with me) and one of my best friends who may also be AS.

Does anyone know a way to stop or at least reduce stimming , mine arent too bad but my sons are he paces if i stop him from doing this action where he puts his hand over his nose and mouth and sniffs loudly , he does it a lot , like every 60 seconds , he does it whilst on the computer or watching tv if i stop hm he spends ages skipping from one end of the house to the other from back door to front door.

I think I stim less than I used to, but I still do it.

When I was much younger I used to:

Compulsively nod and shake my head, in a certain order - like shake, nod, nod shake, etc.
Compulsively look up and down, side to side, etc, with my eyes.
Rub my knuckles/nails together ( I liked the feel of it).

Now I do minor things, like fiddle with/wring my hands, bounce my leg, pick/bite my nails (which i hate doing but can't seem to stop!), flap my hands whenever I am excited.