Non-Autistic Stimming?

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While I am stuck in diagnostic limbo waiting for my referral to come through, I thought I would ask what people know about stimming outside of autism spectrum disorders. For instance, I have always rocked quite a lot as well as rocking my head from side to side without any awareness it is happening along with other stims like finger tapping, restless leg, nail biting, few ticks. Anyone aware of people stimming that much for all their life and somehow not being on the spectrum? I understand tourettes would be one scenario but are there other causes or is it even likely for someone to do all that without having any condition?

My current understanding is that stimming that much would almost certainly mean ASD (or tourettes) but I wonder what others think?

PS. I do have a great many other reasons to suspect AS in my case but just wanted to ask about stims for now.

My mother who is NT stims a lot, foot tapping, leg waggling, restless fingers, but she doesn't have any of the "weird-looking" stims like rocking or flapping. My father who is BAP at least doesn't seem to stim at all.

Hi, I work with kids on the spectrum, and many of them use physical movements such as you describe to self-regulate their anxiety levels, but I do not believe it is only aspies who do this. Many children with hyperactivity also move repetitively and we all know adults who swing their legs, click pens, pick at their fingers, chew toothpicks or pencils, etc, which are all scaled down types of stimming. We try to teach children and young adults to identify situations which make them anxious, causing them to stim, and then try to find some less obvious, more socially acceptable movements/means of calming themselves. Good luck with your diagnosis. It can be liberating to finally understand why some situations are so difficult for us and easy for others. I am now 62 years old, (you dont have to wait that long,) and have finally developed enough social skills and comfort/confidence in myself to live an extremely fulfilling and productive life.

People who are blind, especially, tend to stim. I would imagine deaf people, to a lesser extent, would as well.

I don't particularly care for social norms. If there's a good reason why someone is being distracted or bothered by a stim, of course an alternative stim needs to be found. Otherwise, the stim needs to be accepted.

As you probably know ADHD kids and adults find it really hard to sit still Children frequently squirm and jiggle. Adults find other ways of dealing with the need to move. However,I have not observed ADHD kids exhibiting repetitive movements such as rocking, unless there are some ASD traits involved, keeping in mind that ASD is a spectrum, so we can have few or many autistic traits. Even if your diagnosis does not identify you as being on the spectrum, you may still have some autistic traits, which my affect how you deal with life. Therefore, you may still find it helpful to use some of the tools now available to those of us who consider we do have Aspergers.
I recently found an article about people who are not diagnosed or do not fit the whole criteria for a diagnosis, which you may find helpful. Google, "Invisible at the end of the spectrum: Shadows, Residues, BAP."
In my educational role, I come across many children who present as ASD, but do not get a formal diagnosis from Paedeatricians and Psychaitrists. Because they have sensory issues, or issues dealing with change, or lack social skills, we still try to assist them in these areas, diagnosis or not.
I have not been diagnosed, but when I recognised that I was on the spectrum, it was empowering. I suddenly knew why I was different. It helped me compensate by setting out to learn skills I realised I was lacking, and also made me more comfortable in my own skin. It did not change who I was, just how I saw myself. You will still be you, whatever the outcome of your diagnosis.