How do you stim?

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This blog posts gives a good overview on stimming too:

http://life-with-aspergers.blogspot.com ... -feel.html

Bob my head, tap my feet or hands in time to music, mostly.

Fish stick nick, wow, that explained it clearly. Thanks man.

I'm still new to this stuff... but does stimming occur more often unconsciously or consciously? I have tmjd and I am wondering if, in addition to having a horrible jaw structure that lets the joint press too far into itself, a form of stimming might also be to blame... because I do clench my jaw without realizing it (which makes it extra hard to stop doing it).

Also, I am wondering.. if I indeed have AS, then could that be what would cause high stress levels that feel normal to me (since I've had it all my life)?

I do not have TMJD, but yes for me clenching during day and also while sleeping are unconscious for me, and it takes all of my will power to keep myself from doing it, especially when stressed, and even then I have to constantly consciously work on keeping my jaw relaxed, or I end up in ecruciating pain. No fun at all =/

clicking pens,rocking,and putting my feet under the rocking chair when i lay on my belly

I did these things too and think now that it must have freaked my parents out totally to think they had an "abnormal" child. (That was in around 1959!) For the next decade or so I had to withdraw to my room to do this and amazingly never got "caught" (well only once) even though I flapped and waved threads around for hours. It was my favourite activity and the route into my private world. There was probably some sort of unspoken agreement that if I didn't do it in public they wouldn't invade my private space and prevent me from doing whatever it was I was doing. As it happens, I've done these and similar things my whole life, probably because I was never diagnosed as a child (too early in history) and so never had any "treatment" for this unusual behaviour, so I still do closely-related things as part of my daily routine .

I constantly drum with my fingers (if I'm listening to music it's nearly impossible not to) and bounce my leg up and down or shake my foot if my legs are crossed. Also, when my hair is sufficiently long (as it is now) I frequently run my fingers through it.

I do a counter clockwise motion with my finger on my hand, table, piece of clothing. I also grab and pull at straps of bags or an ipod cord if it's attached to me. I line up objects on a table, especially at restaurants. I shake my hand in a more of a quick short flap motion. That's when I have real anxiety when I walk through a public area. I rock when I'm starting to become very overloaded or panicky. I don't exactly pace but I need to keep moving. I sort of flap both hands in a wide motion like my arms are bird wings. I've been known to make sounds too.
I stare at tops of buildings or objects right up close or my feet. That's because high sensory environments can be distressing and I'll probably get overloaded really soon.

I have nervous facial tics too but they're hardly stims. I have no control over them and they're not exactly calming.

I listen to the same playlist over and over again but this is more of any everyday routine thing and not something to calm me down. Although, after a meltdown I will listen to the same artist for hours and hours.

This one is not a stim, but someone just brought it up. I clench/grind my teeth in my sleep, frequently..
Why do I stim? Hmm, definitely gives me a pleasurable feeling. And can help me focus if I feel myself getting into an overload situation.
I think I also used to use my 8 mile workout runs as a stim, they did everything that waving a string or sock did. But since health reasons closed off running, I am back to my old ways now..

Sincerely,
Matthew

I bounced up and down in some way, shape, or form until I was about 20. I've also folded my ears in on themselves and snapped my fingers (right hand only) in the past. As for the stims that have always been with me, I rock from the waist up (especially when listening to music), I pace back and forth, and I scratch at my skin. For some reason, I am calmed by rhythmic motions and get very uneasy if interrupted.

My stimming is mostly tactile and vestibular. I rock a lot, mostly front to back but occasionally laterally. That is my primary stim, especially when I am stressed, and I have taken criticism for it enough that I now feel slightly uncomfortable about doing it even when I'm alone. People who are trying to help but do not understand me have labeled it an anxious tic and told me to stop because I will work myself up more, not realizing that this is actually something that calms me and gives me a sense of self-control and (ironically) balance. My second most prominent stimming behavior is rubbing my hands. I like to rub my hands along my thighs as I rock so that the rocks motion draws the palm from the knee up the thigh and pushes it back.

Other things I do more sporadically are rub my feet forward and back on the carpet, walk my feet up a wall in front of or beside me, and run things under my fingernails-- not so that it hurts, just as if I were cleaning them-- either the corner of a piece of paper, a nail file, or if I don't have anything else, another nail or the edge of a tooth.

I also have other repetitive or compulsive behaviors which are more complex and therefore I'm not sure whether they really qualify as stimming. I drink a lot, and I do mean a lot, of hot tea, and my partner pointed out to me that I have a very stereotyped routine when I drink it. I pick up the cup, cradle it in my hands to feel the warmth, sip it noisily by sucking it in between my lips, sigh, and put the cup back down with a "clink" on whatever surface I am using; then repeat ad nauseum. Apparently other people find this behavior rather obnoxious And I also compulsively draw all over my vinyl-covered three ring binders and in the margins of my pages when I am attending uni. I do not ever doodle representationally; I only create geometric shapes and patterns, which I shade and cross-hatch until they look visually interesting and "perfect" to me. Does anyone else have behaviors similar to these? I've never been sure whether or not to classify them in my mind as stimming in the same way as rocking and rubbing.

My main ones are to rub the ring on my finger up and down and rock my leg back and forth. If I'm singing at karaoke I do lots of weird stuff with my hands. When I was little I blinked my eyes and cleared my throat.

I jump up and down, I run up stairs on all fours, I walk on my tippy toes, I spin, and flap my hands . I also talk to myself, I also pace. These are my most common stims. I stim very very often when I am happy and hyper at the same time .

My stims change unconsciously over the years. The only one that's stayed constant has been my need for pressure, especially around the mouth/chest. I've always sucked my thumb and chewed my toothbrushes to bits. I used to bite my pencils until mechanical ones became the norm; they didn't work as well because the plastic just split and the lead came out. I still sleep with stuffed animals because I can't sleep unless there's something firm pressing hard on my sternum, and most pillows are too soft to provide adequate pressure.
At two/three I would spin as fast as I could until I fell over, and bounce around like Tigger (that's how my mom puts it), at four/five I flicked the skin on the knuckles of my index fingers using my middle fingers until scabs appeared (probably my most painful), for a while after that I'd tense up all the muscles in my face, jaw, and neck periodically, which became problematic when it started giving me knots and tension headaches. Later it was the classic hand-flapping (which has come back recently when I get excited), which after a while turned into knuckle-cracking. In seventh grade I started playing with my hair, then picking at my eyebrows (something I still do which drives my dad nuts). Most recently I've started rocking back and forth and side to side when sitting, and twisting my whole core from the knees up to and fro while standing. I also talk to the imaginary friend I've had since I was twelve, sometimes switching from English to French at random, though recently, watching a stranger talking to himself on the bus, I realised how legitimately crazy it must make me seem, but it's like I can't help it. I didn't know this was even a stim until I saw others mention it, but I recite my favourite bits of films and tv programmes to myself, repeating them over and over, this mostly only happens at work where it's so loud no one can hear me. I sing to myself a lot too. Most of the time I'm not even aware of when I'm stimming, though I'm sure I must look very odd to passers by.

Last edited by StarTrekker on 28 Apr 2012, 10:05 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Depends on the situation...and what you count as stimming...

Stroking my lips, stroking my arms, or sucking my thumb for comforting.

Clasping hands, rubbing thighs, sitting on hands, brushing hair, biting nails, tapping foot, or straightening clothing when anxious.

Tapping my finger (normally my right index or ring finger) when stressed/upset/angry - the more upset I am the harder/faster I tap my finger, it's normally the first indication that I'm about to have a meltdown.

Or happy stimming includes like flapping and strange noises - these I mostly do when alone, boyfriend occasionally sees them.

Apparently I'm prone to cupping my own breasts quite a lot, not sure why or when I do this.

As a child I was a big chewer...ribbons on my dresses especially were always wet from biting and sucking on them.
When at work I always had magnetic bracelets to fiddle with in particular orders.