Squeezing yourself/ texture sensitivity etc

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Hi guys

I have a question: Do any of you ever squeeze yourself or get obsessed stroking certain textures?

For example, I tend to ring my hands together if I'm uncomfortable, dig my fingers into my skin when angry etc and also have a tendency to stroke, squeeze and effectively manhandle certain textures such as velvet or powder coated steel, certain plastic items et al.

Just wondered if anyone else on here does something similar?

[Moved from Getting to know each other to General Autism Discussion]

yes. i am a big time squeezer. i try not to touch anything fragile as i am afraid i will break something.

Yes this is pretty common, you're not too weird or alone in this.

Hi ya and welcome to WP.

those are stims with a sensory element.

its not necesarily a ASD exclusive buts its a bigger trait amongst us due to having much more sensory input needs.
digging fingers into skin if severe enough releases certain neuro chemicals which makes the mind feel a bit better,
but if not particulary severe it might be because it transfers all focus to that feeling rather than to the situation going on.
it is actualy something had personaly grown up doing,but had taken it to the extreme as have never been able to feel pain unless its non outer/flesh based.

maybe itd be worth making a emergency small rucksack,put various sensory items in there that think woud help when are in stressful situations? perhaps coud put a drink in there that may help with calming down, such as some sachets of hot chocolate [for an example],thats assuming are somewhere that has milk on offer,its possible to stick a tub of powdered milk in the bag to if dont mind the taste of the stuff.
used to have a emergency rucksack some years ago,had a cushion that staff used to hold under head whilst restraining,a hardcore dog chewing toy with the bell taken out of it,several kooshballs,a ton of PECS, and godknows what else was in there,it was a small rucksack though.

am an extreme sensory and pressure seeker and also have pica,have got a lot of sensory integration equipment that helps including a southpaw deep pressure bearhug vest;it costed a lot of money but it is still going all these years later.
have got a seriously heavy weight weighted waistcoat;got it for free off the organisation who owns this facility, it woud have costed a lot of money,the cats of mine at home love it so much to theyre currently fighting over it for a bed so have had to leave it there for several weeks until they get bored of it.

its possible to make weighted equipment if woud like some pressured blankets,lap pads etc,but will need to know someone whose got a sewing machine really,theres a load of handy ideas for making different ones via google.

I tend to wring my hands, grab my wrists hard and I think I tend the grip things really hard...almost too hard. I have to remind myself many times that I don't have to grip the pen so hard or my pillow or whatever. I attributed it to anxiety.

I comfort myself in various ways, I have to massage my own barking back since [at present] i'm lacking another pair of hands to do such for me. I hold my own hands or hug myself when I need reassurance.

I do the squeezing and the digging nails into my skin. I need pressure to be able to sense where my body is, otherwise I just have a vague idea.

How much I do this depends on how much overload I may be experiencing at any given time.

When I'm stressed or having a meltdown I tend to hit parts of my body, but this can be overly destructive and distressing for others so I'm trying to replace it with some other stim.

I'd say I'm hyper sensitive to touch because I really dislike light touches, such as the feel of cobwebs on my skin or a light brush against something. I generally do not do touch unless it's a firm touch with my hands, such as against a nice fabric.

That said, I was wondering if anyone else enjoys scratching their skin? I've read a lot about pressure, fabrics, etc, but one of my in-private stims is scratching my skin, all over - from my fingers to my head, face and toes. Unfortunately this sometimes leads to light cuts or grazes where the skin is torn off which can sting like mad later!

Thanks guys

It's nice to know that others do this as well

And Grevesy, don;t worry, it's not too difficult to change the hitting yourself part...I did

Yeah, the trick is to find out why you hit yourself, and what makes it more likely, and then deal with those underlying causes. So like, stress or you're trying to ward off a meltdown... Or you just like the feeling of it, which is cool but you can usually find other feelings you like too to substitute. Worst case you can redirect it from your head to someplace safer, like hitting your thighs with your fists where the worst thing that happens is a couple of bruises.

I squeeze myself at night when I'm trying to fall asleep and in the morning when my mum wakes up and makes noise and I'm trying to fall back asleep. Also, I do a light touch on my arm, run my fingertips along my arm because I like the sensation. I scratch at myself a lot, pick my skin (including my scalp) and have marks all over my skin from doing this. I also do the repetitive touching of objects I like the feel of but it's not my main stim. My main stim is to dangle a string in front of my face. Actually my stims have always been in some way tactile sensory seeking or using my hands. I never rocked or head banged, for example.