Stimming past childhood

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I've known two people that bite their lips or the inside of their mouths when nervous. One had some mental health issues though and she could bite her mouth without realizing it until she starts bleeding. The other person doesn't do it to the point of bleeding though.

I thought I heard another member of this forum say that everybody stims to an extent. People without AS sometimes fiddle with objects in their hands. That could be an ADHD thing though. My dad does it. My mom's a nail biter. Lots of people bite their nails when they're nervous. Is that a socially acceptable stim? NTs only bite their nails when they're nervous. I only ever play with my hair when I'm nervous. Is that a stim even though I only do it when I'm nervous? Either I'm stimming when I play with my hair or nail biting isn't a stim. Which is it?

I had not heard of "stimming" until I was diagnosed, but I have done it all my life. I see no reason to stop. I rock, I shake my legs, I fiddle with silly putty, I flap my hands, I used to chew on pens but a teacher helped me change that unhygenic one to a safer one - silly putty. I do pick at my skin and I wish I did not, but no luck changing that one. Most stimms are safe, if yours are keep with them.

One of the weirdest stims I find myself doing is finger-spelling (in American Sign Language) what people are saying. It's usually when I'm not involved in the conversation itself, like a news report on the TV. Go figure.

[quote="nebrets] I used to chew on pens but a teacher helped me change that unhygenic one to a safer one - silly putty. [/quote]

I used to do this one too. I broke myself of it when I got tired of the fellatio references men made every time one saw me doing it.

One poster mentioned biting inside the mouth. It reminded me of my lip-chewing. I'm basically scraping the dry skin off with my teeth -- yeah, I know...gross. I've mademy lips bleed several times by tearing a sliver of skin too deeply. I do this on my fingers as well -- I bite the dry skin with my teeth and with my thumbnails. These bleed often also.

Another weird one I do is clicking my teeth. My bottom molars don't line up exactly with my top ones, and I find myself rattling my teeth together in a sideways sawing motion, sometimes for no reason but many times to keep time with the music in my head...really.

I go back and forth on whether to stop rocking in public. I don't think it's a big deal, but I'm aware that many people believe that rocking is a sign that you're "crazy". But I've been doing it my whole lilfe in public and nobody has ever said anything.

I had a therapist help me with the hair pulling. He said that when I became aware I was doing it, to stop and wait for five minutes before doing it again. Then, wait for ten minutes. Eventually, it should be 15 minutes, then 20, etc until it just goes away on its own. I stopped catching myself doing it and don't find my hair all over the house anymore, either.

Of course, other things pop up to replace them, but fiddling with one's hands is much more acceptable. I am not going to worry about this stuff, personally, unless one pops up again that is either hazardous to myself or others or very socially unacceptable.

I thought everyone chewed pens? I do lots of other small things that I assume are invisible but I keep watching people now and just don't see them 'fidgeting' like I do. I surely don't have ADHD as well! Do I?

I had the same experience as Panddora. I have done what I now realise is stimming all my life in various ways but didn't know it as such or realise that other people don't do it nearly so much as me until I learned about and got diagnosed with AS at age 29. I quoted Kafke's post because I do every single one of those myself (I'm a bearded and long-haired man). There are a few more but those mostly cover it. The most notable other stim which I do is the very stereotypical rocking from side to side or back and forth while sitting - mostly when I'm on my own because I realised that it makes other people think you are crazy or, in their mind, "ret*d" which obviously isn't helpful in e.g. the workplace. In those situation I replace my full-body movements with something more subtle such as fidgeting with a pencil or tensing muscles in my legs in sequence.