Does oral fixation count as stimming?

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I have an oral fixation
*pauses for childish giggles*

I sucked my thumb in public until the age of 15 - I still suck my thumb now but only when I go to bed or need comforting, I'm not ashamed, my mother, aunt Suzi, and uncle Andy sucked their thumbs until they were 13, and as far as I know my uncle Tim still does now he's in his 50's-60's. I also used to chew and suck on ribbons on my dresses as a child, and constantly bit my nails until they bled.

I was a smoker so of course cigarettes were one oral fixation and being a smoker at the time I also put everything else in my mouth when I needed a smoke - I am now an ex-smoker, the oral fixation hasn't stopped, not because of cravings or habit, just the urge is still there and it is more pronounced when anxious. If in a pub I have to constantly lift a drink to my mouth, I will still put my fingers to my lips and either nibble on my fingers around the nails or just stroke my lips, pens obviously go into my mouth and get sucked on. I also eat constantly, it is less to do with hunger and more to do with a need to put things in my mouth.

Is this just a run of the mill oral fixation, or is this specifically an example of stimming?

I stopped sucking my thumb at about 10, since my teeth were going way out of line. I keep my hands near my mouth, especially when I'm stressed out, and I also notoriously chew the collars and sleeves of my shirts, just like my cousin, who has HFA. It's become a family joke that I'm the only one who can take his old shirts, since it won't make a difference to me .

Stimming or not, I know what you're talking about.

I am always doing something with my mouth lol. Smoking, eating, biting my nails, sipping at diet cherry cola, biting the skin around my nails, talking etc but I don't know if it counts as stimming or not.

Oh and I didn't suck my thumb but I did have a dummy bottle until I was 8. I wouldn't drink out of anything else until my mother threw it away

Since I quit smoking, no plastic pen is safe. I have to keep a metal pen on my desk at work in case my boss needs to sign something and I don't want him to have to use a chewed up pen. I used to chew wooden pencils when I was in school.

I have never sucked my thumb, and I hated binkeys. But, I have always been a chewer. Pens, pencils, my shirt collars, my shirt sleeves, toys, rubber covered phone antennas (back when our house phones had those), furniture, draw strings on hoodies, ANYTHING. If I am holding something for a long enough period of time it ends up getting chewed to bits. My web cam is covered in rubber...I got it for Christmas. It already has holes. On the occasion that I DID tolerate a binkey when I was little, I chewed holes in them. I also chewed holes in the nipples on bottles. I was switched to cups rather early....and I chewed the rim of those up too. I chipped a tooth (only slightly, thankfully) last year biting a fork. No food on it...I just felt like biting the fork. When I have money for gum...I chew 24 pack in a few hours. I am like a chain smoker....of gum. My mouth feels odd if I am not biting something. Almost painful...but in a weird, vague kind of way,

I chew constantly. All the tops to my pens are destroyed. I had to keep my hair short for years because as soon as it got long enough, into my mouth it would go. Now my main stim is to bite and suck one particular area of my hand. If I'm sitting at my computer working on something that doesn't require both my hands to be active, I'll have one hand on the mouse and the other in my mouth. Oddly, I dislike gum, but I do like chewy candy.

I'm not too sure about that one, but I'd say it was stimming. (Only because I do it, too!)

I have bitten my nails constantly since I can remember. I need to always have something in my mouth, whether it be a bit of nail, a pen or a Nintendo DS stylus. I bite my nails until they bleed and have not been able to stop, even for a day. I used to lick the sides of tables and things (llol ) when I was very little, and sucked my thumb until I was eight or nine. I just feel lost without something in my mouth! :L

_________________
Aspie 172/200 Undiagnosed, but pretty sure I have it.
'Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure.'

I've always had an oral fixation! Never had a pen lid for more than a day. I tend to bite and chew more than suck things.. Never had a pen lid for more than a day, and I have a bin just for gum (: It's definately a kind of stim xP I've met other aspies with the same fixation. Ain't a bad thing, people find it endearing, more so if you're female o_o

I never, to the best of my recollection, sucked my thumb. If I did, it certainly didn't go beyond being a baby. I did, however, chew everything. Straws, popsicle sticks, pen tops, my hair (I don't do that anymore though), and anything else you can think of. I do think it was some sort of stim, though I never realized it at the time.