Self-harm

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Between the ages of 3 to 5 one of my favorite things to do was to catch bees and have them sting me. Is that sort of thing common on the spectrum?

I should point out that this was motivated mostly by scientific curiosity rather than any particular desire to feel pain. I was curious about the effect of the bee venom and the mechanics of the stinging process.

Well I used to put safety pins and sewing pins (small ones) through the palm of my hand, sometimes fingers. I had this thing about putting clothes pegs on my fingers too.
Were you hyposensitive?
I've been told that as a child I would injure myself quite badly and then laugh hysterically. I don't actually remember experiencing any pain until I was about 12.

I wouldn't say I was hyposensitive. I did feel the pain, but it was kind of worth it.

I remember trying to jab the tip of my pencil through my hand at age 5, only resulting in fainting and a broken pencil without piercing my skin.

I'm not really into self-harm.

When I was younger, I would do harmful things because I wasn't sure how bad they would be so I wanted to experience them first hand, such as putting my hand on a heated stove top or sticking metal in an outlet, and so on. After getting badly hurt a few times, I quickly decided to just ask others about experiences and just taking their word for it. This was also in the 3-5 range.

I used to put safety pins, pins and needles through my skin, mostly on my fingers or the back of my hand. I used to think it was interesting to see the point go in and then come out, and the ridge that the pin made. I don't remember it being painful and I don't remember injuring myself badly so I don't think I would class it as self-harm.

I also did the clothes pegs on my fingers, and still do that when I hang the washing out!

That was as a child. As a teenager/adult I did/do self-harm in other ways.

I used to do it too! Into my early teens, I think. I'd take a needle, pierce just the topmost layer of the skin, let it slide through for a short distance and have it come out on the other side. It didn't hurt at all.

This sounds a lot like me, it was always interesting to see the mark it left behind, where you could see that something had gone through the skin and out the other side but it didn't hurt, it was just interesting.



This unfortunately also sounds like me.

I used to staple my fingers on purpose as a kid. I think I did it because if I was bleeding they would stop yelling at me.

Interesting to hear that others did this... I am now wondering if this is common among children of all neurology or just those with an ASD (I am, at present, undiagnosed so this is a question that comes up for me quite a lot).



I had forgotten this. I also used to staple my fingers on purpose. I'm not sure why - again, I think it was an interest thing. Like the needle thing I don't recall doing it in front of others so no one was going to know if I bled, and I didn't used to get shouted at much (I was quiet and kept to myself so came across as well behaved) so it wasn't to stop that.

This is really interesting. I'm trying to think what else I did now...

I did things for scientific (investigative and discovery) purposes, but not because I actually wanted to actually harm myself even though other people might/would/could/did erroneously see things that way.

I still do that... It still bothers people.

I never thought of it as self-injury, but I have 4-gauge pierced nipples and 7/8" ear plugs. Needles (blood tests, injections, etc) don't bother me at all.

Charles

I had totally forgotten about doing these things until reading this. I did the thing with the safety pins. I also put clothespins on my fingers (or those wide paper clip things). I suppose it's not self harm, but, for the same reason as the other things, I used to put school glue on my hands and let it dry. It felt weird to pull off.

I once went too far with it and put a zip tie around my wrist, not realizing that I wouldn't be able to easily remove it. I had to run to the school office for a pair of scissors with a completely blue hand. That was not nearly so fun.

Also did the safety pin/needle through top layer of skin thing and the paperclip/clothespins/binder clips on the ends of fingers thing and the glue on the back of my hands thing (looked/felt like peeling off skin)

I'd forgotten about doing this, I used to put it more on my fingers / palm of my hand than on the back though.