Most common stim

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Also if starting an activity like a game I sometimes go into a zone out trance of excitement about the game until someone talks to me and I snap back to my surroundings.

Any thumb suckers? I sucked my thumb from birth until I was finally able to quit at about 12 years old. As a kid I remember twirling, hand flapping, fidgeting, talking to myself...I'm sure there's more that I'm leaving out. I still talk to myself, fidget, hand flap, coil my toes when I'm nervous, and sometimes I pace back and forth.

I stim quite a lot these days. I rock, flap my hands, spin round and round, shake my leg. I usually do it when I get excited and I don't mind where I am. People do look sometimes but I don't care.

If I'm sitting, my legs are constantly moving, either bouncing or opening and closing a bit at the knees. I pop my knuckles a lot and I'm always picking at my fingernails, cuticles, toenails and skin in places on my fingers. I also smoke. I've always, always had (and still have) the need to clear my throat...every few minutes, would that be a vocal stim? I never even thought about that until now, but my husband even picks on me about it, it's that constant. I did love to spin when I was younger. I've been sitting here reading, thinking I don't stim, and then I see a post, and it's like "Hey! I do that!" I never realized...

- Hair twirling/stroking/braiding
- Pacing, especially when anxious, like when on the phone - I never know when to talk, end the call, etc...
- foot/leg tapping/bouncing
- chewing skin off lower lips, sometimes til it bleeds
- nailbiting - reduced this to times of extreme stress finally
- left thumb rubbing hard at the base of my right thumb
- tucking my face into the collar of my shirt up to my nose - I'll sit like that for hours, wrinkling my nose and playing with my lips
- rocking side to side when forced to stand in line - the only time this was pointed out to me a nice little old lady smiled and said she could always pick the new mothers out of a crowd (because of the rocking). I just happened to have a baby when that happened but later realized, I've always done it but I went with the 'baby' theory anyway...

Since I'm not diagnosed I'm sure all of that could just be very persistent nervous habits... although, except where noted, I don't do them when nervous. Most of the time they are very soothing unless I catch myself doing them in public.

I make a lot of repetitive noises as stims. Sometimes I can go half an hour making the same noise, not thinking anything of it. I'm usually alone, though.
I also do other stims that aren't noises, but not as often; I rock a bit, do arm/hand stuff, etc. Only when by myself, though. Like basically all of my stims.

Basagu said " i move my head left/right/left/right for like 1/2 hours before i go to sleep (I never heared about this stim, anyone got information about it?)"

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OMG! I used to do that as a child, never knew that anybody else did that! wow..

I'm really not sure which of these would count as stims and which would simply be OCD like behavior or habit.

Foot and leg shaking
Mouthing sentences after I have spoken them.
Repeating words that taste nicely on my tongue.
Pulling apart split ends
Self deep tissue massage (to the point of bruising sometimes) /squeezing arms and legs
Popping joints (especially wrists)
bouncing (while sitting, standing, sometimes trying to sleep)
rocking
scratching (not for an itch, just because)
Head shaking/handflapping

Various finger motions.

For as long as I can remember, I would always stim with my hands. I began to flap my hands recently when I have to go to the bathroom really, really bad, if I see something that makes my skin crawl, or if it's something that I don't like that I find creepy, then I'll flap.

Before I forget, I have a black rubber wristband I stim with when I'm bored, anxious, excited, upset, or just really happy about things. My mom said I would always have to have something to keep my hands busy as a kid and still now. Mostly my right hand since I'm right handed.

I also pace while listening to music with my stim toy that helps me think better, I also move my body side to side while standing; especially whenever I play Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It helps me play the game better, and I think I rapidly move my eyes if you count that because I'm thinking of the amv's I saw on youtube, along with trying to copy the crazy eye you see in anime. LOL!!

There is a 30cm ruler in my room, with which I stim by throwing it slightly in the air with my left hand in such a way that the ruler does a vertical 360 spin in the air, before catching the ruler again with my left hand, throwing it in the air and repeating, in a very rapid manner. I mostly do this when I am daydreaming, usually while listening to music, and sometimes even while pacing around my room. I have been repeating this movement for so long and become so used to it that even while pacing and in deep thought, I can continue it without even looking at my left hand or the ruler it is repeatedly throwing and catching, and I also almost never fail to catch the ruler even under such conditions. If the particular ruler that I normally use is unavailable, I sometimes perform the same action using different objects, most often pens or highlighters, though I more often fail to catch such objects as they are not as long as the ruler that I normally use.

Knee/Leg bouncing, whatever you call it. That thing. Always.

I don't really know if it counts as a stim but when I'm on my own (and I'm actually quite embarrassed to admit this) I make all manner of strange sounds. It can start of just as simply talking to myself but if I hear a sound that I like I'll often repeat it many times or a stream of similar sounding words. In fact it doesn't have to be words, it's often just a stream of nonsense. What's that all about? It's not like I do it all the time but it comes in little 30 second bursts a few times every hour.