I was reading a couple of older threads about stimming, and now wonder if I do stim. I always thought stimming was limited to wiggling/waving of the hands and rocking. But I am learning that there are many forms of stimming.
I used to blow bubbles with my spit and suck my tongue as a toddler. I remember because of the several times that I was pulled back to reality while blowing my little bubbles, and my mother fighting with me to make me stop. I replaced the tongue sucking with pressing my tongue against my teeth and stopped the bubbles. I've had a few others that I picked up and dropped over the years, but I have always maintained something with my tongue.
Most of my life I have never been able to keep my legs and feet still. For the last twenty years or so, I have been toe/foot wiggling/wringing. People have noticed whatever I had chosen for my latest foot or leg movement and asked me to stop, which I usually was not able to do and ended up anxious over it.
My wife went to a school for the blind 20 some years ago and spent time around other people with multiple disabilities. She has seen and knows people who do stim and know what it "looks" like. She swears up and that I do stim, but I'm not sure. I have met several her friends who stim, and I have only seen the stereotypical stimming of rocking and finger wiggling so I have a hard time accepting my wife's suggestion that I do stim.
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What I am wondering is not so much why people stim, I get that. I think... lol. I am wondering what do others get out of it? What does it feel like in your head while you do it? Is your stimming something you can control and stop on command without starting back up? What does it feel like when you are forced to stop?
I know these questions are worded badly and overlap, but I have never really been able to word questions. I hope at the least that you can at least understand the gist of what I am trying to ask. I am trying to learn more about myself and any feedback would help.
30 Sep 2013, 10:58 pm
