Aspies For Freedom

I'm new here.

My stimming usually starts off unconscious and is ruined when I realize I'm doing it.  I lose track of time, irritate people (unintentionally--I'm in my own world a lot) and make odd noises that somehow are part of who I am...And, depending on the noise, that's not a great thing.  Actually, I guess none of my noises are really appropriate.  But I don't do it on purpose.  It's like a tic...only with sound.

Whoa I do the same thing. Leg twiching, handflapping, finger wiggling and rocking.

It usually either, I'm listenting to music loudly(Which I always do) and I'm feeling the rhythm and I'm excited so I start handflapping or playing with the headphones. When I'm in depressed state or really scared, nervous or even boarding pantic-attacks. I rock, normally it's conscious and I know I'm rocking sometimes it's instinctive and use to placiate me when I'm trying to understand something or when I'm super uncomforable.

I have a hard time suppressing them in public. Mom doesn't care too much, but sis does. Do you know how I can't stop myself from stimming in public

LOL Embrace the stim. I wish my therapist was more open. My boyfriend thinks my stimming is kinda cute << Maybe I'll just ignore her

Just wondering about the compulsion part of it - I mean, isn't that really what stimming is?  A compulsion? - "An irresistible impulse to act, regardless of the rationality of the motivation."  Or doesn't that fit?

Also, does doing this ever cause anyone to lose concentration of what you're doing?  I get distracted by my compulsions, I go off and spend time on doing those things (scratching/itching/pulling/cleaning/etc.) instead of doing things I guess I should be.  But that might be because those kinds of things require my hands (and my attention, I'm looking at what I'm doing usually) so I really don't get much else done.

Well, I understand that.  But it's also something that you can start doing without realizing it - so without control.  I mean, I will start a compulsive act without realizing it sometimes, and then realize it, and be able to stop (for a time).

But beyond that - is there ever a time when you wish you didn't do it?  Does it interfere with the things you should/could/wish you were doing?  That's, I think, the key between a habit and a compulsion.  The lack of control in STARTING it, and it interfering with aspects of your life.

I can waste hours at a time absorbed in my tics, and even get exhausted doing them and think, "man I wish I didn't do this, or (depending) I didn't feel like I HAVE to do this."  How easy is it to stop?  I guess I do, at times, have a really difficult time pulling myself away from those things, because there is some level of gratification (relaxation, ease of anxiety, etc.)  My boyfriend tells me I get "tunnel vision" when I am engaged in my compulsions.

... but then again, maybe that's the difference.  I feel like I HAVE to do those things.  I am COMPELLED to do them, overwhelmed by the anxiety I feel sometimes if I'm not doing them.  It helps me shut down my mind.  ??

thoughts? comparisons?

I find it interesting that I stim when I lisent to fast music. Some times I dance other times I acually stim rocking my body or wigging my fingers

I use to do that as well? Did anyone love to spin in compture chairs? Or spin in general. I seem to do that alot when I was really little.

I stim, I bang my nails on glass (tapping), mainly this is due to a lot of anxiety

I have some steps I learned when I was studying ballet that I like to do. Most of them involve turning.

For everyday, I tend to tap my fingers on my face, shoulder, other hand, or leg. I also rock forward and back, as well as side to side. If I can't do anything then my throat tightens up- which is my standard response to anxiety. I can stop if I need to, it just isn't comfortable.

When I am really stressed out, my hands clench and I can't relax them on my own. If I'm too stressed out (too many people or too much sensory overload) for more than a day, I catch a cold or flu and am sick for at least a week.

I constantly pick at my eyes (incl in public - have tried to stop SO many times), plus I used to tweeze my legs (stopped because I kept losing my tweezers, and didn't allow myself to buy new ones...I still sometimes pick the hairs out with my fingernails though).

Oh really? thanks for the info...interesting how they describe it (impulse disorders) as "a small, short term gain at the expense of a large, long term loss"...I'm not quite sure what that means.

I stim by listening to heavy metal or J-pop and running all over the house. And lipsynching at the same time. I'm sure my brothers think I'm crazy.

Oh okay, that makes sense in terms of those but not really so much for what I do though. I thought maybe it meant a short term gain of control where you are lacking control in a larger context, although now I think about it properly it seems more likely that they were actually referring to the explanation you gave. Hmm, going to the psychiatrist soon...I am a bit scared of how many things I am going to be diagnosed with..

I stim when I'm bored alot too. At work I'm frustrated because they don't give me a lot of tasks to keep me occupied. So I stim by rocking, tugging my hair, leg wobbling, and slapping my face. It's annoying to some, but it's only thing that keeps me from screaming "GIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO!"