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HeroOfHyrule
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24 Oct 2021, 5:03 pm

I legitimately cannot sit or stand still for the life of me. I have to constantly fidget/stim to stay comfortable and focus on anything. The only time I am still is if I'm laying down to go to sleep. I have ASD and ADHD, and am wondering if other people with ASD and/or ADHD have this issue.



funeralxempire
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24 Oct 2021, 5:06 pm

I didn't know you were posting about my issues for me now. :mrgreen:

Yes, I share this issue. I fidget and rock or drum when I need to focus unless I'm driving.


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SabbraCadabra
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24 Oct 2021, 7:37 pm

I usually have to stim...usually just my legs: I might bounce or sway my knee(s), or tap my foot, or do air drums. Sometimes I rock, but not as much as I used to.

HeroOfHyrule wrote:
The only time I am still is if I'm laying down to go to sleep.

Not me. A lot of nights I will rock my feet until I fall asleep.
One time, at a sleepover, I was doing it, and my friends could hear the shuffling, and one of them thought I was doing something inappropriate O_O We all had a good laugh over that one.


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WeirdMetronome
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25 Oct 2021, 2:34 am

Nope, I usually can't sit or stand still either, always moving my legs. Unless I'm really concentrating on something. I find I stim mostly when I am idle and have nothing else to do, but I'm mostly unaware that I am stimming until someone points it out.

If I am very anxious or unhappy then I won't stim at all, but I will be unnaturally still. Like I've frozen.



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25 Oct 2021, 6:53 am

In amateur radio there is a term called "squelch" it is an adjustment that sets a threshold on the volume so that extraneous noise is kept quiet until someone speaks so that only the voice is heard and not the background noise.

I suspect that Asperger neurology picks up more sensation that can act as background noise and that stimming or movement helps to provide a source of controlled sensation that helps establish a sort of threshold for perception that reduces the significance of background "noise".



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25 Oct 2021, 7:05 am

antsy-pants all my life, if I am not reading and studying it is hard to sit for more than a few minutes.


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25 Oct 2021, 7:25 am

No ADHD or ADD here, just AS, and yes, I can. Way easier if I'm intently focusing on something, though. Something like standing in line is hard though, as in if it's a long one or one that's waiting for some place to open. I usually fidget. Waiting to pay in a grocery store or something is easy enough. Standing still while waiting for the bus is kinda hard too, but if the bus is supposed to be there any minute, I force myself to do that and pay attention so that I don't miss the bus.



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25 Oct 2021, 7:27 am

I can. For hours. Without distractions or entertainment. Not even stimming.

I can watch my mind, my feelings, and sensations and where it wanders without acting or entertaining it because I also meditate.

That's how I know that I do not have AD(H)D and only have other executive functioning issues that aren't ADHD/ADD.


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Eirianbryn
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25 Oct 2021, 10:03 am

Can not sit still or stand still - unless I mentally make myself sit still which is difficult and stressful ( like making myself sit still at a funeral when everyone is super quiet)

I have to fidget, move, shake a foot or leg, sway when I'm standing in line ( hate lines) when I'm driving I noticed I move my tongue a lot ( I used to chew gum all the time but stopped when the dentist said it wasn't good for my teeth) I suspect it was a form of stimming for me


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SharonB
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25 Oct 2021, 10:34 am

According to my cat, I cannot. She will sit in my husband's lap - b/c it stays in one place for a sufficient period of time. Not mine.

That said, I can do hours and hours of genealogy at the computer but I am up and down and all around. I was diagnosed ASD and not ADHD b/c I sat like a statue for my evaluation - although it may have briefly been evident when I accidently knocked my tea cup off the table. I pace a lot, stretch in elevators, etc. I once had a medication that exacerbated it and called the dr b/c it was so ridiculous - he had me stop that med immediately. My son probably has ADHD (and not ASD) and his teacher kindly commented that he is now able to keep his head in one place, focused on his work, even though his body is everywhere else around his desk. We had a foster son with ADHD and in order to read a difficult book he balanced on one foot on a post in order to stay in one place: busy in place.



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25 Oct 2021, 2:33 pm

I'm very inactive by default.



HeroOfHyrule
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25 Oct 2021, 2:55 pm

SabbraCadabra wrote:
Not me. A lot of nights I will rock my feet until I fall asleep.
One time, at a sleepover, I was doing it, and my friends could hear the shuffling, and one of them thought I was doing something inappropriate O_O We all had a good laugh over that one.

I do the foot rocking thing, too, which is interesting. I've heard of other people with ASD doing that when lying down to go to sleep, and even people in my family do it. Otherwise I don't move much, but I do change my position a lot.



HeroOfHyrule
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25 Oct 2021, 2:56 pm

WeirdMetronome wrote:
...If I am very anxious or unhappy then I won't stim at all, but I will be unnaturally still. Like I've frozen.

When I get really upset I become very still, too, but I think that's when it gets so bad I have a shutdown. Giving myself any extra sensory input then feels uncomfortable and unbearable.



HeroOfHyrule
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25 Oct 2021, 3:02 pm

timf wrote:
In amateur radio there is a term called "squelch" it is an adjustment that sets a threshold on the volume so that extraneous noise is kept quiet until someone speaks so that only the voice is heard and not the background noise.

I suspect that Asperger neurology picks up more sensation that can act as background noise and that stimming or movement helps to provide a source of controlled sensation that helps establish a sort of threshold for perception that reduces the significance of background "noise".

This makes sense. I find that stimming/fidgeting distracts me from other things that are distracting me and that I can't filter out. It gives some balance to the chaos of all the sensory info I'm taking in. lol



HeroOfHyrule
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25 Oct 2021, 3:04 pm

Fireblossom wrote:
No ADHD or ADD here, just AS, and yes, I can. Way easier if I'm intently focusing on something, though. Something like standing in line is hard though, as in if it's a long one or one that's waiting for some place to open. I usually fidget. Waiting to pay in a grocery store or something is easy enough. Standing still while waiting for the bus is kinda hard too, but if the bus is supposed to be there any minute, I force myself to do that and pay attention so that I don't miss the bus.

I try super hard to force myself to be still, but unless I am already intently focused on something it seems impossible. My ADHD probably compounds it since eventually I get distracted from focusing on making myself be still.



HeroOfHyrule
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25 Oct 2021, 3:05 pm

Eirianbryn wrote:
Can not sit still or stand still - unless I mentally make myself sit still which is difficult and stressful ( like making myself sit still at a funeral when everyone is super quiet)

I have to fidget, move, shake a foot or leg, sway when I'm standing in line ( hate lines) when I'm driving I noticed I move my tongue a lot ( I used to chew gum all the time but stopped when the dentist said it wasn't good for my teeth) I suspect it was a form of stimming for me

I relate with this a lot. Staying still is super hard and anxiety inducing to me. It takes way too much energy to do so.