Stims and running water

Post Reply New Topic

Definitely try it, it might help prevent a meltdown or argument if those two are things that you deal with.



I'll try that one, I have a million allergies that cause hives and itching.



Yeah, I did rock a lot more, but I got told it was weird and not to do it by someone I lived with when I was younger, so I guess I learned to stop when others were around. I still do it in private for random reasons. The hand flapping, I shake them at my sides, sometimes they hit my legs and people tell me to stop drumming. (I do that a lot too)



Sweet! sometimes I do it to rhythms too. I've had to be told to stop things like that before noticing, too.



It was the things you normally do not "feeling right" I've done things like that too though, realize I'm stimming somehow when not meaning to.



tangle jr. toys are awesome (for me anyway) I just got a "fuzzy" one, it's good for fidgeting and it's soft. Their website is if you're interested. Tangle creations

I do, but not more than once or twice a month. I'll try it.



It's pretty amazing, and I have a really hard time putting into words what it feels like. It's so much more satisfying than just scratching, and so much more effective.



I think I stopped rocking for a long time, but when I started spending more time alone, I started doing it again, and now I do it around people without even thinking. I don't really care what they think - it helps me cope. I was in a noisy/semi-busy brightly lit restaurant the other day and I am not sure I could have stopped rocking if I wanted to.



Yeah, usually I tap with my fingers and people think I'm impatient or upset, but I just feel uncomfortable if I sit still.



Yes - my typical stims didn't feel right.



Thanks for the link.

I like the sounds of water. Even though I wear ear plugs to bed I put on a rain storm cd on repeat every night. I can still hear it faintly even though it's very muffled.

In the past I'd also get hot water in the tub put my feet in the tub only. I don't think this is a stim but it is calming. The only problem with this is having wet feet and drying off. I don't like water on my skin after being getting wet.

My mom told me that when she was a kid she had year where she would often draw the same picture of rocks and a river over and over. When I was a kid I liked making small damns from small water streams made of dirt and debris. I think I might have just turned the hose on to do that. I don't of that as a stim but I bet it was calming but it was more that I found it interesting or fun. For some reason for a long time I have liked the idea of cleaning concrete with a pressure washer with sound reduction ear buds or ear plugs on and watching concrete being cleaned by high pressure water. I think I mainly like the idea of doing only that over and over and getting paid but it's more complicated than just doing that..

Before, I didn't think I stimmed but then I realized I'd walk around feeling calmed holding my hands at my chest wringing my hands or holding my left thumb with my right hand and rubbing and squeezing it. And now I am self conscious about it but keep finding my hands up there. I have this small urge or tendency to hold my hands to my chest because it feels right.

I often twist my fingers around my pinky and rub my pinky with my thumb. when doing that sometimes I'll add putting my thumb and pinky nails under each other rubbing. I also hold my thumb inside my palm and rub my thumb. I also do something with my index fingers and the web of my thumb. I also will posture my thumb over my index fingers and hold my hands like that. I start doing these without thinking about it. But since thinking I may stim I keep self analyzing too much and I don't like that.

Maybe I do other things but I'm not sure. I've been told when I am very mad I shake or jerk my hands near my head.

Oh, I also find myself curling my toes inside my shoes because it feels good curling them then softly pushing them back normal.. Sometimes I find myself doing that when trying to go to sleep because it's calming.

I used to bite my fingernails a lot. I stopped and now I can not stop doing these funny things with my fingers that never stop.

Hi guys. I'm new here and this is my first post. Been diagnosed for almost a year.

I occasionally have severe panic attacks. And from day one I instinctively would get in a hot shower and the sensory overload would block out the panic and associated discomfort. I often switch from extremely hot to extremely cold to shock my system a bit. It helps me but I would never recommend it. I have scars down the center of my back from sitting in the shower. I don't know why but it works for me.

Verdandi,

This is a real coincidence. I read this thread here about running water earlier today, thought about it and then wrote a piece about it in reply to someone on another thread on a completely different topic (one I started) because it was relevant to that completely different topic. I have just come onto this thread now to post the same piece here because the idea for it originated here. In doing so I notice that you are the same person I was replying to on the other thread, although there is absolutely no connection between the two threads at all.

I collect coincidences and have masses of them. I have to tell people about them when they happen. This post probably makes no sense to anyone and I've just realised this might be what is referred to as cross posting in the regulations so I don't think I can reproduce that post here.

.........What I wanted to say was that in so far as I understand the concept of stimming (I'm new here), playing with water was and is the main form of it for me. Another form is to wave objects about, like pieces of thread or tapered pieces of paper, something I'd never seen anyone else do until I worked briefly in a home for mentally handicapped people. I stopped using other objects years ago, but I still play with water and suppose I will continue to do so for the rest of my life. If I understand correctly what people refer to as stimming I have managed to limit it to water. Actually, no, I've just realised that's not true, I use other things too, but running water is the main one. As a child I called all such activities "waving" and kept them secret, though I spent a lot of time doing them while building up great imaginary worlds in my imagination or playing complicated games in my head which involved storing large amounts of data in different areas of my short-term memory. In those days there were no computer or video games but I had my own video games in my head when I poured running water and observed it closely. I don't know if this is what is meant by stimming or if I sound a bit autistic. I'm completely new to this forum. It seems to me that most of you are in some ways similar to me and that stimming is like what I did/do, but I'm not sure. Are you all on the autism spectrum and does it sound as if I am too?

Usually for comfort. And I like the sound of the gentle humming of the heater too. And I get cold easily, so sitting with warm air blowing on me is so relaxing and it warms me up, until I get extremely hot and start dripping.

Oh, when I was in my late teens (17-20, actually) I was addicted to coincidence. I read the Illuminatus! Trilogy, and although I knew it was all fiction, it was so interesting it just consumed my brain and I looked everywhere for apparent common threads for the fun of it. I actually made one of my roommates hate me so much because of this she kicked me out.

I used to keep track of every coincidence I could, and still remember a lot of them. I stopped keeping track of new ones long ago, however. One fascinating element of coincidence was the matter of interpretation - I could find threads by manipulating the information just enough to make it sound like coincidence when I described it. It was all a game to me, though.



This sounds a lot like stimming. The part where you describe how playing with water enables(?) your daydreaming/imagination? I've heard others describe how various kinds of stimming does similar for them, and it has done similar for me - some things I do, it's like my brain becomes a highly detailed three dimensional surround sound holographic theater. There's a video actually where an autistic woman describes this kind of thing as her "autistic world":

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T10V4xoE8I[/youtube]

I usually get into that mindset in the bath, or shower, or taking a walk.



I can relate to this, although I prefer cold air. I have fans running all the time (love the sound, it drowns everything else out) and I get warm too easily, and it is relaxing.

I used to bite my fingernails when I was younger, but I just stopped doing it one day. I don't really understand why, as I'd tried to stop so many times and failed.

Thanks a lot for the video tip, Verdandi.

About stimming in general:

I read somewhere that 10% of the 'normal' population stim.

Here there are around 80 milllion people, of whom some experts estimate up to 80 thousand have some form of undiagnosed autistic syndrome. 10% of 80 million is 8 million. This is 100 times more than the supposed number of undiagnosed ASDs. Which means that for every undiagnosed autist who stims there are 99 normal people who do.

So I suppose one shouldn't read too much into doing it. Unless building up imaginary worlds while doing it is different and something normal people don't do.

Re one of the videos in the series ( I think it was the third one):

She refers to the

" autistic world accessed by autistic people through their repetitive actions"

or the "autistic disconnect".

She's definitely doing EXACTLY the same thing as I've always done. So I'm left wondering about my classing myself as "normal" and "non-autistic" . Do "normal" people do that too? I have read that Dr Asperger was AMAZED at first to see kids playing with pieces of string for hours by themselves. They were obviously accessing their worlds. I wouldn't have been in the slightest bit amazed!

These things have always been a real anomaly for me. It felt really autistic but " I'm self-classified as 'normal' so how can that be?" I thought.

If you do these things does that make you autistic?

I don't know if only autistic people do it, to be honest. I know that daydreaming like that (having complex worlds with long histories and lots of characters) is common for autistic people. I have a friend who is informally diagnosed with ADHD who does it too, although I am about 60% convinced she's autistic (she has shutdowns, a strong need for routine, needs a lot of time alone to recharge after being around people, has a lot of anxiety about all kinds of things - just about as bad as I was around her age, actually. So could go either way.

As far as it goes, I was "self-classified" as normal about two years ago. Lots of things have changed since then, although I'm still the same person.

Stimming by itself doesn't mean one is autistic, although it is part of the diagnostic criteria. About 30% of the population has at least one autistic trait, so it's not surprising to me that so many people stim.

I stim quite a bit and a good portion of it is completely unconscious-- I won't realize unless I specifically pay attention to it, someone points it out, or I notice pain after the fact (biting stims).

There are times that I'll seek out sensory input intentionally too. I go through phases sometimes when I feel like I'm "starved" in terms of sensory input and will crave touching certain fabrics or materials.

As for daydreaming, I'm not often aware when I do that. I do lose track of time sometimes, though, due to being lost in thought. I wonder if that counts.

Feeling starved in terms of craving certain kinds of sensory input is a very good description of how I feel when I crave certain stims.