what kind of tics do you have?

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May sound an odd question? I don't know. But I'm curious about aspie's tics (like handflapping etc). so I'd love it you could descirbe the kinds of motor-flipping-things(?) you do.

Myself- I used to have this wierd one.. got quite painful eventually when I was about 12/13 where I'd flip my middle finger.. it's hard to describe, but it would involve flipping my hand at the wrist so I could feel the sensation down my middle finger.
My parents always used to go on at me saying 'why do you do that!?' (this was way before I got diagnosed).. and now it makes sense!

now I have this thing where I keep cracking my fingers and tensing and flipping my little finger. I also crack my neck all the time, quickly straining it from side to side. I also flap my arms sometimes.
It's worse when I'm stressed/anxious.

How about you?

Charlie

Er, stimming isn't exactly the same as ticcing from what I understand. As far as ticcing goes, I blink, and rarely do head nodding and gutteral sounds (soft and even more rare), unless I'm really upset or something.

None because I don't have Tourettes.

I've not been diagnosed with torettes. I just thought it comes with having asperger's. I didn't think it was a seperate thing.

Charlie

I don't have Tourette's either, but I have motor tics (Tourette's requires motor and vocal tics). My tics are blinking, ankle twisting, and torso-twisting. The torso-twisting has been much worse lately, not sure why, which is unfortunate because it is the most visible one.

someone explain to me:

I thought tics were part of autism,

I know tics are part of tourettes too, but I thought tourettes and ASD were different.
I don't know how to explain.
Like if you have hand flapping.. that's part of ASD if you've been diagnosed with it and therefore you couldn't be diagnosed with tourettes as well.

basically for everyone who has ASD and they handflap etc... does that mean all those people have tourettes too?

Charlie

Stimming is when you seek out repetitive sensory stimuli in order to regulate your level of arousal. Some people handflap, rock, look at lights out of the corners of their eyes, spin objects, or something similar. Generally stimming is pleasant and relaxing for most people. NTs stim as well- for instance jiggling their legs or playing with a pen.

Tics are more like compulsions, or "unvoluntary" actions (technically voluntary, but compelling). You feel like you *have* to do them, and they are unpleasant and unwanted usually. Tics are a form of movement disorder, while stimming is the expression of a need for a particular type of sensory input.

Most autistics stim, and most NTs stim at times also (not as much as autistics usually). As for tics, there are two types: motor and vocal. Someone with chronic tics can have a motor or vocal tic disorder if they only exhibit one type of tic, or if they exhibit both motor and vocal tics (at least 2 motor and 1 vocal) chronically, they may have Tourette syndrome. There might be a higher rate of tic disorders in autistics, but it's not something traditionally associated with autism.

I have vocal stims that might border on being tics just because I CAN control them, but I do find them to be compelling. Nonsensical phrases that I repeat at intervals...Dopey-Doh, Doh-Sko, Buspa-doh...and several others....One might find me pacing around muttering these to myself....Or if I lose my words, I will interject with one of these....or if I am really confused and unable to get the words out...a whole string of them...

But they are not tics...they are habitual and not beyond my control...I just don't see a reason to stop.

Hand flapping isn't a tic. It's a stim. I do that when excited or stress. My bf pointed it out to me and so did my mother one time when I asked her how did she know I was scared.

the medical definition of tics is: (from my medical dictionary) "a spasmodic twitching movement made involuntarily by muscles that are ordinarily under voluntary control". Hiccupping comes under this catagory.
In other words, if you can touch the tic and it does not stop, it is a medical "tic". The tic most people with autism describe is governed by the compulsion of the mind to do that action. Why you do it is the secondary issue, i.e. stimming (doing the action to increase your level of awareness)(or because it feels "right" or "good"), or because you are nervous (nervous tic), or you are just plain unaware you are doing it (running your fingers through your hair repeatedly).

There is a lot of gray area here. Like, take the tiny muscle in your lips that twitches because of a tic. Yes, you can voluntarily move that muscle when you smile; but you cannot isolate and move just that muscle. And then there are "fasciculations"-when one bundle of a muscle twitches (often a medication side-effect; it feels like a ripple under your skin and you can even see it happening). There is a lot to learn yet.

My personal tics are: while looking upwards, I open and close one eye at a time. And other odd stretching movements of my eyes. I also like to use a toothpick and push on my gums to the point of a little pain, repeatedly. I close my eyes sometimes when I am speaking, especilly if I am trying to formulate what I want to say or am trying to remember something. I can clearly remember the first time I did my eye "thing" at age 12. I was standing in front of some children who immediately looked at me like I was a wierdo.

I have a variation of this. Ever since I became an adult I realized the importance of flossing, as I did not have good hygiene as a child. Since I started flossing I discovered that I do not like regular floss, but I really like these "floss picks" made by Dentek. I use the smooth silk floss portion to clean my teeth and the pick to clean around my gums. But over time I have discovered that I enjoy using the pick to also poke my gums until they start to hurt. Too much pain is bad, but a little bit is just right and I love it. I actually crave this feeling and I have started doing it at work after I finish my lunch. I go to the bathroom with a floss pick to clean my teeth and then achieve stimulation of my gums.

I actually think of this as more of a stimming behavior rather than a tic, because I do it to experience sensory stimulation.

ahh, I get it now! Thank you!

In which case... perhaps this topic shoould be reworded to.. describe your STIMS!
You learn something new everyday. I never knew they were refered to as stims.

Charlie

To be honest I dunno if I have Tourettes or not but I have a tic in my shoulders and sometimes my neck.

However, I read a book about Asperger's and it said something about Tourettes in there, so I guess it's associated with Asperger's.

I crack my finger joints, and run my hands and fingers through my hair and try break knots. These are my primary tics. An old one was wiping my hands under my under arms back when i had pretty bad hyperhidrosis (excess sweating issue/anxiety related).

Cracking my fingers is one of my biggest tics. Again, though, if you're doing it for sensory stimulation (which I would consider the feeling of gratification I get when my knuckles crack) is it a tic or a stimming behavior? I do this with my back and neck as well, and I am really confused on whether this is a tic or a stim, because I do it specifically to obtain a certain feeling of stimulation.

And the breaking knots thing in hair, back when my hair was long enough to do that I was obsessed with it. My hair is too short for that now, though. And when my hair got long enough, I was always chewing on it during class. This was back in high school.