A question about weird behaviour
I just have a question because something weird happened today.
I think it started when I was in the shopping centre getting my phone credit fixed. I was talking to a very nice young woman who sorted everything out and was very chatty and cheerful. I have got heaps better with this and am usually ok doing things of this kind.
Then when I was walking back to my car I had all these stims come on really strongly. Irresistibly, in a more tic-like sort of way where I couldn't just not do it. It started with the humming out loud, swinging/flapping my arms. Then when I got in the car the rocking/bouncing back and forth against the seat started, and tapping with my hands/fingers on the steering wheel/gear stick, tapping behind my ear/flattening my ear while also doing the humming and rocking/bouncing.
When I stopped at lights people were giving me weird looks like they thought someone with a disability shouldn't be driving. Lots of people think that but I am perfectly legally able to drive and I usually do so just fine.
I had to go do some shopping and stims were still going (trying to be quiet and unobtrusive) and people were staring.
Then it sort of went away. I was still swinging my arms but that's not so strange when it's hot.
Then when I was driving it came back, with the tapping again. I started to feel VERY agitated which is unusual because driving is usually quite relaxing, I like the feeling of motion. I got more agitated for no reason and then the slamming my back against the seat/bouncing started up again. Then banging my head back against the seat and lifting my chin over and over. There was some vocal stims in there that are old stuff, like saying "ok, ok" over and over, but mostly the humming. It's not a song or anything, just a noise.
Inside it felt all itchy, like I had to stim and stim and stim and couldn't resist it because my insides were crawling and all restless.
I got home and had a cold shower because I get severe heat stress and that can bring a lot of stuff on, and that helped. But I still don't feel settled, there's still the feeling of wanting to stim.
I'm not usually like this. I usually manage to behave pretty normally, or if I am stimming I can sort of disguise it, like plenty of people tap pens or their toes, it doesn't look too weird. This did and I couldn't not do it and yes it looked strange.
I know some people say this sort of thing can come on for people with autism/tourette's under stress, but that's just the thing, I wasn't stressed. The woman was very nice and helpful, and nothing else was particularly bothering me out of the ordinary. The only thing I could think of was I may have been heat stressed.
But I've been feeling like this a lot lately, and I've been very conscious of the fact that people who only know me as behaving pretty normally are going to think it's weird if I'm suddenly behaving like this. I've been feeling that autistic part of me a lot. Sometimes I just don't, I just get on with my life as an autistic person and it's ok. But this is weird behaviour in public with apparently no cause.
Can anyone relate to that?
I do that chin thing A LOT; my tics are uncontrollable now and personally I don't even care who thinks it's weird. It is entirely possible that with the current toilet paper zombie apocalypse, a latent level of stressors are present (with everyone), and had nearly nothing to do with that interaction but latent subtle stressors stacking concurrently. Does human interaction with unknown people-whether negative or positive-cause any slight sense of stress? Hope all is well.
_________________
HFA/ASP, Synesthaesia, Tic Disorder
goldfish21
Veteran
Joined: 17 Feb 2013
Age: 42
Gender: Male
Posts: 22,612
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
I’m sure others can relate and you’re not the only one.
With no obvious external stressor, what about internal? Like, has your diet changed recently? Is there something you’ve added to it that you don’t normally eat?
It's been My experience with autism that various food chemical sensitivities can trigger stronger symptoms.
_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.
There is stress, and there is eustress. The former is a negative emotional state, while the latter is (you guessed it) a positive emotional state.
It is possible that the OP was experiencing eustress after having had a positive emotional experience, and that this triggered his stimming behavior.
But I'm not a mental-health professional, so I could be way off.
_________________
Similar Topics | |
---|---|
Weird stims |
Yesterday, 5:51 pm |
Why is everyone so weird/complex/sarcastic except myself? |
27 Aug 2024, 10:46 pm |
Weird texting annoyance. |
14 Sep 2024, 9:52 am |
Weird comment from a doctor |
23 Sep 2024, 8:27 am |