Stimming 24/7

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Just a few months ago during some prolonged cold or some sort of post-nasal drip flare up that involved a bad cough and an excessive need to clear my throat, I started feeling the need to stim with a specific throat noise WAY more than ever before. Because I had the throat issues at the time, I was able to play it off since it's a croaking sort of noise. I have chronic post-nasal drip and have these issues all the time, so it's not like this was some stressful or new event. Ever since then, I have been making this noise practically 24/7, bar during sleep of course. I do it more for how it feels rather than the sound itself. The only waking moment I don't even think about it is in class or interacting with classmates outside class. Every other time, even when I'm busy, I need to do it constantly. I have to do it as discretely as possible around family members and in public.

Just yesterday, this croaking sound was semi-replaced by a high-pitched sound after some events that illicited negative emotions and some anxiety. Events that have caused even worse anxiety have never caused this, though. This other sound often has to be done in rapid succession to the point that I have to catch my breath. I still do the croaking noise in between. I am really sick of being this desperate to stim every waking moment and really want to stop this madness. I don't know how this could possibly have happened so suddenly and am sad that I might be spending the rest of my life like this. Also, this cannot be good for my throat.

Any suggestions on how to at least alleviate this? I will be seeing my talk therapist in a couple weeks and will be bringing this up, but I'm not sure how much she can help me, especially since she doesn't know much about AS. I imagine her answer being "distract yourself" and it's too bad being busy doesn't make any difference.

Maybe I'll upload one of my dashcam videos and post it here so you guys can hear for yourselves.

Maybe spend lots of time exercising, it seems like these sounds might be hard to keep up during activities where you need to prioritize breathing and oxygen over anything else. Making these sounds constantly is probably some positive feedback loop in your brain right now, and perhaps exercise could help break down the loop.

You mentioned that you have a tic disorder so that would explain the noise you are making. I have both Tourettes and tics and both of them are hard to distinguish at times. Especially with the fact that you do it discreetly means that it is most likely a tic because I am more open about my stims because I don't want to stop.

Recommendation for you? Vocal tics are harder to change, but try replacing it with another sound. I've replaced a squeaking tic with a grunt. It's not too much better, but I've made it work.

Thanks guys. I have a medical condition that flares up in low oxygen conditions, but this would make it more likely that I would be making sure to breathe, so I may still try that.

Interesting about the fact that they could be tics. I always thought of tics as barely voluntary, since for me they tend to involve a physical feeling building up that pretty much forces the tic. What I think of as stims are completely voluntary and done for the sensory input. What especially confirmed this belief for me was the fact that I have an abdominal tensing tic that I absolutely hate, yet one of my stims is tensing my abdomen hard to feel the pressure. But I will take your word for it, especially since the ASD specialists who confirmed my dx last year insisted that my vocal "stims" were in fact tics, but I was so set on my own perception. I will bring it up to my psychiatrist that my tic disorder may have worsened and may have been Tourette's this whole time. Too bad his first reaction is always to reach for his rx pad.

I'll try replacing these sounds just because they're kind of hard on my throat after a while. I wish I could stop making ANY sound incessantly and go back to every once in a while, but that may be a pipe dream if they really are tics.

You can hear the squeaking sounds in this video. It especially gets bad starting about 2 minutes in. What do I sound more like? A dog or a bird?


This earlier one has the croaking/grunting sound early into the video.


Anyone else have/had similar tics or stims? I'm not sure if it's possible to differentiate by sound, but does that sound more like either tics or stims?

Also, I still have the urge to do this after running. I just have to get a couple in there in between breaths. These sounds both involve inhaling too instead of exhaling. So they go in instead of out unlike talking or most other sounds.

This is just terrible.

No, but if it makes you uncomfortable, it's highly likely that it's a tic.

Your grunting and squeaking sounds a lot like mine! I also quack like a duck under certain scenarios and have various arm and facial contortions.

Hmm, it doesn't so much make me uncomfortable as I'm just sick of having to do it constantly. I feel the urge to do it for the sensory input, but I'm never satisfied. I'll even try doing it as hard as possible in an attempt to satisfy myself so I can stop, but it never works. I also tend to do it more under high stress conditions. My tics, on the other hand, are definitely uncomfortable and not nearly as voluntary. Either way, I guess it doesn't matter so much which one it is as how I can stop it.



Wow, that's crazy. Are yours stimming or tics? I do some facial contortions on occasion, but it's always about the sensory input because I like the stretching feeling.

I still think this sounds like a tic. Most of the time, if I'm doing it to do it or for the sensation, it's a tic. If I have some other motive behind it, it's a stim because it's voluntary, and I like the way it makes my mind feel. The "stretching feeling" you described is normal for what most people do to fulfill a physical sensation. For example, if I need to blink really hard or roll my eyes, I do it to try and relieve the sensation (but just like you said, it never seems work). More often than not, I tend to tic without meaning to, and stim voluntarily. Although sometimes, when I am tired or upset, I can't help it and stim without realizing it. During the day, I suppress my tics as much as I can before I start doing them more intensely.

To my knowledge, I don't have any vocal stims, although I was told I hum on various occasions. I already mentioned my vocal tics above.

My motor stims are more repetitive, so I rock (sometimes without knowing it), tapping my fingers or feet, and flap my hands when really upset or bang my head. My motor tics tend to last only a second, but they don't seem to happen when I am stimming. It's a long list of blinking, shoulder shrugging, neck twitching, nose scrunching, punching both my arms forward, making a fist and sticking out my middle finger (copropraxia), and more subcatagories in a few of these.

You can kind of recognize it by seeing it or hearing it. It should be brief and you keep doing it. I have one friend with mild motor tics and both of us tic uncontrollably once one of us starts. A couple autistics I know tic under stress or pressure, but are sometimes vulnerable when they see me tic. Tics just lead to more tics. But I hope this helped.

If part of the throat condition is strep, there's some outside possibility that it's PANDAS, which is an autoimmune condition related to rheumatic heart fever.

One study found that about 50% of persons with rapid-onset OCD had PANDAS, which means about 50% didn't. And some doctors are skeptical about the whole thing.

If you like doing Internet searches, you might also look up Sydenham's cholera, which has been recognized as a sometimes side effect of rheumatic fever for generations. (in fact, I think the English physician Sydenham lived back in the 1600s!)

And like rheumatic fever, it's serious but treatable with prophylactic antibiotics.

I have OCD worries about health and safety issues. I like zen, in a thoroughly casual way which I think is the way to do it! For example, if I can wind to a place where it's okay to do a precaution and also okay not to do it, that's a pretty good place to be. And if the magic dances another way or on another occasion, that's okay, too. Maybe it's a little bit like learning a foreign language, which is something I struggle with, but kind of get.

Hmm, I don't think I had strep since most of those issues are caused by post nasal drip, but I'll look into it.

what has worked in the past for getting rid of tics?

Whoops didn't see this one. Yes that was very helpful! It all makes sense now. Now I can see the difference.

I brought it up to my psychiatrist today and he told me they sound like tics. He prescribed something for the tics that has worked in the past. Hopefully it helps.

Hey Alex! Risperdal worked for me so well that they mostly stopped years after I went off it. I was just Rx'ed it again.