I always have to be doing something with my hands

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These days I play fiddle tunes mostly. What's even stranger is that I play these tunes on the air piano still, even though they actually can be quite awkward on the keyboard, and I never actually play the tunes on the piano. I guess it's how my brain thinks about tunes.

Oh yeah I do that too. If there is anything in the vicinity to fold or play with, I'll do it without even realizing it. You would definitely know if you flap your hands. I can only speak for myself but it was a constant source of teasing at school. The actual motion has changed for me over the years but it's basically an impulse to move my hands very fast whenever I'm excited. Most of the time it happens before I even realize I'm doing it. It's gone from me vibrating my hands in fists, to interlocking them and sort of shaking them. I've never really managed to stop doing it completely but I've managed to make it look more "normal" (I rub them together really fast as if I'm cold) Most people will still give me a weird look though, but they don't say anything.

Mgran, you know about Ravelry, right? It's kind of like Facebook for Knitters. They also have a neurodiversity group there.

No, I didn't know about that site... thank you!

I never know where to put my hands so i always end up putting them in my pocket. It's really annoying, i can't walk anywhere without my hand in my pockets.

I think it's one of those 'i want to be safe' symptoms, if you know what i mean.

If i stand with my arms relaxed by my side i just get this feeling that i look ridiculous, like i have to put my hands somewhere else.

I get that too, it's really annoying.

On a side note, did anyone else spend the first ten years plus of their life learning how to walk without swinging their arms like they were in a marching band?

Mine goes back and forth between 'playing' piano and 'playing' valved brass instruments... again, usually really awkward to try to play those particular tunes on the actual instruments!

There also must -always- be something in my hands when I'm reading or talking to someone else... usually a shiny metal object on my desk, and I don't realize that I'm fiddling with it until it hits the floor. As you might expect, it is pretty confusing to anyone meeting with me in my office.

If there's no object readily available, I usually end up wringing my hands... just keeping them folded doesn't do the trick for me.

-M

That makes three of us. And I know that's one of the reasons I have so much trouble quitting smoking. When i have a cigarette in my hand, it gives me a reson to be constantly moving around, without figeting. And it's the same when I'm sitting down. I need to be playing around with something or I go stir crazy. Even when I'm sitting here at the computer, if i am not typing, I'm screwing around with something.

If I have a paper napkin in my lap I usually twist it into little bits and tear it up without even realizing it. I also wear rubber bands on my wrist and I always take them off and play with them.
I have a koosh ball that I use instead so I don't tear up paper or break things when I fiddle with them.
I sort of chew on my fingers too which is apparently very unattractive and inappropriate, according to my family.

^ The main computer in my house is sitting on a desk with drawers underneath which contain documents and paper. When I used to use that computer, I would rest my hands in the drawer and would rip up the corners of the documents into tiny little pieces without even realising. My mum thought we had a mouse in the house because I would leave huge piles of small bits of ripped paper in the drawer. It took me a while to realise I was doing it and even then it was hard to restrain myself. Now I have my own computer without any drawers so I don't have to worry about stopping myself.

ditto

I am like this! I want to know what this is, but my hands have to be moving at all times unless I'm holding something. It bothers me if they are relaxed, so if I'm playing a game or typing and I have to wait, I usually lace them together or "snap" or something.

It is probably our inability to relax when people are around us. Or it could be medication (fluoxetine) or even the lack of it. Sometimes when i'm sitting down i will put my hands under my legs, squashing them between my legs and the seat. In this case it's possible that it's the medication as i sometimes i get tingling sensations in my hands. I know the tingling is from the fluoxetine because when they upped it to 60mg it got much worse and i could even feel it in my feet.

Recently, I've had to switch from taking it in the morning to taking it at night as it really knocks me out in the morning. I've had to reduce it from 40mg to 20mg since i developed a fever at one point and really bad muscle pain, along with mental confusion. You have to watch out for the side effects of these drugs as sometimes they can be mistaken for depression symptoms.

I do exactly the same thing, I'm like one of the military guys in the movies who's constantly field stripping and reassembling their weapons.

I also like to twirl it between the fingers of one hand like a baton.