"Stimming" an ADHD thing or not

Post Reply New Topic

Although I'd not heard it called stimming until tonight, it is something I do, mainly body rocking, knee bouncing and pacing (if those last two count) and occasionally hand flapping, i've always assumed it was an ADHD thing, but it isn't listed in Wikipedia's article on stimming and if it is an ADHD thing i would have thought it would be an obvious one to include. Does anyone know anything different?

It's stimming.

ADHD behavior can look similar, though most of the time it's not.

I am ADD diagnosed and I stim like crazy....hand flapping knee bouncing, feet flapping, arm, flapping, rocking, going up on toes, I have vocal stims pacing...and so on..then again....the possibility of AS was not even addressed....

Im adhd and asd diagnosed and I do all that stuff. Rocking, hand flapping and walking on my toes especially. In public, unless theres loads of stress and I forget where I am, I just tap and twirl my ankles and wrists a lot. I always assumed that the repetitive stuff is aspergers and the inability to sit still is adhd. Since the adhd is controlled with ritalin most of what i do now is really repetitive and i can never seem to stop. Its annoying though.

ADD meds definitely don't seem to reduce stimming.

It's stimming and you shouldn't be trying to reduce it unless it is harming you.

There are lots of different ways to stim but you need to do it for stress relief. If one way is socially unacceptable, start manually/deliberately stimming a different way and you may be able to change it.

Medication doesn't reduce stimming, though it can sometimes increase it.


BTW: poopylungstuffing - I like your new avatar.

Meditation might reduce stimming....I know that I am extra stressed by my stim levels....and that means I should slow down and be more conscious of my movements.
Someone once noticed my movements getting realy jerky and spazzy and stmmy and said that I should work on consciously controlling my movements....at the time I was offended...but in retrospect, I guess it is a good idea....

Stimming is the result of your body trying to deal with sensory overload, natural medication. It gives you the chance to collect yourself. I'm not a doctor, but I do not have ADHD yet I do stim.