What types of stims do you folks use?

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My number one stim is to rub my thumb ring up and down on my finger. Luckily my knuckle is big or else I'd pop it off!

I also shake my leg back and forth if I have to stand in a line or wait somewhere.

As a kid, I pulled out my hair, picking large bloody bald spots (I broke this habit)

Nail biting: I'll gnaw them bloody, but I have been working on this, now I only seem to do it when stressed.

Head banging: sometimes while relaxed in the bath, other times hard when stressed.

Smoking: I consider this a stim, and it wasn't until I started smoking did I stop pulling my hair out.

Biting. I bit everything... my nails, so much that there's none left to bite, and have to wait for them to grow a tiny bit before I chew again. I chew my fingertips, my fingers, pens (I've gotten through at least thirteen at school by chewing. Give me pen and I'll stick it in my mouth, no matter whose it is.) I even feel urges to bit other people's nails! I have been doing it since I could chew!

I don't even think I had a proper stim until I was about 13. I cover my ears up to stim. It's weird. I can just sit there, holding my face and not get bored.

I listen to one song again and again and again and again without getting bored. Right not I'm into- My love, by Sia. It's so pretty, and I know all the words already.

I play songs in my head. Anyone else do that? In times of stress, I have a personal MP3 Player, and I can just switch on a song and listen to it for hours until it fades away. I love it, becasue it's usually nice, slow songs that get stuck in my head.

1. Hair pulling - I pull my hair all the time during class, at home, whenever.
2. Shifting position constantly - Sitting still just doesn't work for me.
3. Chewing on clothing
4. Pacing
5. Flapping, but only at home, and when excited.

Those are mine in order of prevalence.

EDIT: Didn't think about music, hmm that would probably place between #2,3

EDIT2: After reading this I noticed that I do a heck of a lot of these and didn't even realize they were stims, not sure about my order anymore.

playing with a rubik's cube
shaking legs/feet
rocking
I tend to be touching my face or pinching my lips
chewing on plastic
when I am trying to go to sleep I will rub my feet back and forth on the bed
popping my fingers
taking apart pens or breaking them
chewing on erasers

Making blastbeats with my hands and arms.
Counting sylabbles with my teeth.

Arm flapping.
Rocking back and forth.
Hand flapping.
Hand whirling.
Hand clapping.
Hand rubbing.
Humming.
Spinning.
Jumping up and down.
Looking at the ceiling.
Touching walls.
Moving my hands in front of my face.
Opening and closing my mouth.
Opening and closing my hands.
Tiptoeing.
Grabbing feet.
Head banging.

staring at a lights(a lot in high school... on rare occasion now), bending my fingers and wrists and ankles back and forth(more than i can count per day), humming(daily), dragging my fingernails across walls(if I'm in a good mood), biting nails(all the time), twisting hair(all the time)
chewing on stuff(I accidently stuck my phone charger in my mouth while plugged at age 22 ~that sucked) I bounce my legs (only alone or in the presence of ppl that know me) Rocking (only when said or thinking about my daughter), pacing(I cannot sit still while on the phone), toe walking(usually when I'm feeling particularly uncoordinated), tapping fingers, rubbing my eyes, adjusting my jaw, shaking my head(when I'm deep in thought it helps me to move on to the next and not get stuck) these are the ones I'm aware of. most i really don't do in front of people when i can help it. Some take a lot of concentration to stop like the hair twisting and the nail biting and leg bouncing those are the ones i don't see as embarrassing and they are more automatic and sometimes takes a while to realize I'm doing them.

Many have been listed by other people, and I can never keep track of them all.

- rocking while sitting
- swaying while standing anywhere
- finger tapping
- leg bouncing
- feet bouncing/moving
- toe walking
- smelling all kinds of things especially new electronics
- internal music that never leaves my head
- rubbing things with fingers
- taking apart objects and putting them back together
- pen clicking
- fingers through hair
- leg shaking while in bed
- pacing
- picking at everything
- lip biting
- nibbling on inside of mouth
- teeth tapping together usually to music

wow i didnt realize i did so many of these. lol
heres a few i can think of . most of them ive done since i can remember.
pinching the side of my nails until they are sore
spin things, like a coin
pop my knuckle in and out
rubbing thumb nail
pushing in the bump on my wrist (idk what the name for it is)
fold my ear over
i dont do this anymore, but i would poke at my gum until it bled
bite my inner mouth
when im frustrated, i usually stroke my hair back repeatedly
move my toung around in my mouth
hum
cover ears
rub face
squeeze my eyes shut
shake or tap legs
tapping fingers to a song as if i was using piano
pull hair
twirl hair
when im happy i sometimes pace and move around
listen to the same part of songs over and over

there are more too. a lot of these i try not to do in public now. unfortunately i used to do them around others .

I never really considered much of what I did as stimming, but reading through seems I actually stim quite a bit.

I have done the head banging/bouncing thing, even if it hurts; I guess I just like the sound my head makes against the wall when it falls back against it. It's really nice on a sheetrock wall

Recently (well, in the past few years), I've started blowing on myself. Usually on my arms or hands; I like how the air feels when it comes out my mouth in a stream. I also am sensitive to drafts and will search for where the air is coming from. I only do the air blowing things around family; no one has said anything *shrug*

Tapping is a huge thing for me! I LOVE tapping out marches on hard surfaces with my fingers! The beat is just such a crisp rhythm and so much fun. When I had my nails grown longer to play fingerpicking blues, I loved to tap (sometimes to the point of discomfort, but for some reason I still felt compelled).

The other things are usually derivatives of rocking, whether it be my feet or legs or hands. I have to rock in rhythm to either something in my head, or music.

Then there are the full body twitches, twists, etc. Too many to list. I always just attributed it to me being odd; there was no classification with me. Growing up in rural NY, you were either normal or ret*d (or misbehaving). I never really knew why I did these things, and even with the idea of AS, I'm not sure if I'm actually so, or just "faking it" (for some reason also had that thought, that perhaps I was just "faking" my problems). anyhow, great topic! It's enlightening to read the posts!

I blink or twitch when I'm nervous, I twirl pens in my hands, I pace, I hit myself on the head, I sometimes rock, I rub my hair. When I was younger, if I was reading a book (I'd hold the book in one hand) or watching TV, I'd have to throw a cushion and catch it. I don't why.

Rocking back and forth, pacing, chewing on almost anything, twirling hair, (when very happy) hand flapping, humming, making one-syllable noises (such as 'lalalatadalatada' or 'mamamumumamulalala', etc.) swaying, leg bouncing, tapping teeth together, finger fluttering, etc.

When I feel nervous or embarrassed I now hand flap. Or if I'm under stimulated. Or if I can't sleep. I also twirl too for the sake of it.
I make noises to fill in the silence much to my mother's annoyance.
Licking teeth.
Moving head from side to side.
Jumping.
Trying to jump but not quite beating gravity. I suppose people explain it as being 'on the balls of your feet'.
Looking up.
Punching self (though not hard, just like the pressure).

Pacing
Jumping
Dancing (or at least moving in my uncoordinated way)
Rocking
Hand flapping
Repeating sound, word or sentence
Moving side to side while sitting
Touching hair
Biting cheeks (bleh, I try to gave it up)
Clasping my hands

i was reading this over and i had to look up the word synaesthesia, only to find out that this is something my 11yo does. well, i think she does. for instance she will say her dinner tastes purple, and i know that means she isn't going to eat it because she doesn't like 'purple' things. on the other hand yellow is quite wonderful and all her favorite songs are yellow. she has other odd ways of discribing things as she experiences them quite differently than i would. she also seems to be able to write certain things to memory, like when she was 2 her dad jumped off the second floor balcony and she remembers that in vivid detail, why he did it and everything. she remembers being a baby and falling asleep in 'the big bed'(my bed with me) then waking up in her crib, going back to the big bed, falling asleep and waking up in the crib again. i'm going to look into this further because i think this could be a real asset to her if she can learn to harness it.