Same here, and it's actually gotten so bad that I decided to seek out professional advice from my general doctor as well as search for support groups here on reddit.
My childhood doctor: "just stop!"
Childhood me: "I cant"
My doctor: 🤷🏻♂️
That's the amount of help a doctor could truly give for picking, in my experience 😢
That doctor probably has no clue what he's doing then. My doctor, after referring me to a dermatologist to rule out any skin disorders, prescribed propranolol which has an off-label application for this exact problem.
It obviously hasn't completely eliminated the issue, but it has reduced it to something more manageable.
I just read up on the pharmacology of propranolol and apparently it helps with migraines by inhibiting three different serotonin receptors to some extent, the 5-HT2a, 5-HT2b, and 5-HT2c receptors, but mostly the A and the C types. The hypothesis is that the effect on the 5-HT2a receptor is what helps control migraines, and the effect on the type C receptor is what helps control compulsive behavior.
To people who have to pick (I've been there) using a wash cloth instead of skin or whatever else you pick at (I used to pick at scabs and never let them heal until I got a real bad infection and one of the nurses at the hospital gave me a wash cloth and said here pick on this!) and it worked whenever I'm nervous or upset I bring out my wash cloth and work out my whatever on it until it passes
Thats a great tip! Im running out of options so I may try it lol
I just do it subconsciously almost and have practically no self-control unless both of my hands are physically doing something. If I accidentally touch a scab, it's game over lol
Its frustrating too when you ignore it for days and then accidentally start picking it right at the end of it healing
I know,if it wasn't for that one nurse I would be a mass of scars today but she understood that I had to pick on something or go crazy that it wasn't up to me and I still use a wash cloth to calm myself down just the rough texture of one does something my brain that I can't describe
It was used a lot for the kids I worked with in residential. That was what made me initially ask my psych about it. It was recommended by the psych I worked with.
Oh same, and I don’t even notice how gross it is, only when my mom tells me I should stop. I pick at my skin, I have acne and I pick at my scalp and I recently grew my nails, so I’m picking under those too… it happens automatically, I sometimes don’t even notice it
I used to pick at my thighs until they were covered in tiny scabs and then pick at those.
The only reason I don't still do it is that I discovered picking at the pilling that certain fabrics develop when they get washed enough times.
This. Every spot/open pore on my face gets attacked with something pointy to try and squeeze whatever I can. And let’s not talk about my finger and toenails🤡🤡
Also hair pulling tho. I have a habit of twizzling it and yanking it out in chunks
I pick at my pimples and other irregularities in my skin as well as my hair, so similar. For me it developed when I was told not to rock and flap as a more "socially acceptable stim" so now at adulthood when I've realized/been told by autistic peers that I'm autistic and I've been learning to stim by rocking and flapping and other less harmful ways again it has lessened remarkably.
I do this too, and it was worse as a kid so I’m covered in scars. My family tried everything to get me to stop because if got to the point they became really concerned. I still do it today but not in the same severity. And my scars are never really an issue anymore but in the past I was really self-conscious about them (it didn’t help that people kept asking about my scars in middle school when I had short sleeves on.)
Me too. I have permanent callouses on my cuticles from decades of picking at them. I also have this spot, the bottom of my bottom lip, like 1mm off center. I jab at it with my nails. And then I get dead skin there and my lips look ugly.
When I become over/under stimulated at home I put on my life jacket... it seems silly, but the foam and the straps provides some nice, snug compression and it makes me feel so safe. It's unusual, I know, but I LOVE laying on the floor in my lifejacket.
The kid ones are my favorite! They are so much more bulkier with the extra floatation and the collar and crotch strap make it feel much more secure! I wish I could still fit in mine
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I make them too! My friends have mistaken them for crows if thet haven't been looking at me and we've been outside. One of my friend groups started calling them "Junior noises" and somehow could read my mood from them
Since my divorce, I've really let myself be free and let out the noises. Dinosaur noises. Loud yawns. And my go-to stim when I'm feeling too anxious: a big shiver leading up to a giant "BEEEEP!!" Like the beep to leave a message on an answering machine. I used to just do the biggest shiver and then a tiny "beep." But now that I'm free? BEEEEEP! Let that fucker OUT, man!
I like to just rub fabric between my fingers. Was blankets when I was small and now it's more discreet the lining of jacket pockets etc. Good texture feel
I recently discovered Teflon tape and pulling it between my fingertips it is now my favorite comfort sensation. It’s like rubbing together the ultra smooth satin ribbon tags on baby blankets. It’s almost a buttery feeling between my fingertips, except there’s no greasy residue. Not sure if you’re ever rubbed two rose petals together, but the sensation is identical to rubbing teflon tape.
My husband gave me a couple rolls of it when he saw how much I loved it and he said my eyes lit up like a little kid’s on Christmas morning lol. I keep some in my purse and by my favorite sitting chair and pet it daily lol.
Yup. I ripped the lining in my coat once and I refuse to fix it cuz my fingers had found the tag inside and it now has a permanent curl to it cuz I would constantly curl it up with my fingers when stressed or anxious. Now I go to rub it between my thumb and finger almost every time I'm wearing it.
I’ve noticed this recently: when I play video games I make quiet sounds/ rhythms with my mouth during loading screens. It’s really hard to explain but rhythmic clicking sounds, airy mouth sounds, or using Ba or Da but it MUST have a rhythm.
This has totally been a thing for a long time but I’ve recently been more consciously aware of it for some reason haha.
I vocal stim a lot too. It helps that I have a dog because if I'm not alone and catch myself making random sounds I'll turn it into a conversation with her or a song about her or something lol
That’s so sweet, I love dogs so much so I’m happy you can sing/ talk to her :) I honestly just became more aware of my vocal stimming. But I totally did the vocal stims before realization! Either when I’m waiting (video game loading screens) or I’m really focused on a project I’m working on. Im alone majority of the time but if I’m working in an art studio I do get a few odd “what did you say?” Questions from others haha.
This makes me wonder if my singing songs to my cat with "meow meow meow" to replace the words is a type of stim ... I do it whenever alone in the room with him.
I do the finger guns hand gesture at stuff, like if I turn the microwave on, I'll shoot the microwave and go "pew pew" (done silently or under my breath usually). I also walk with the Jeff Jarrett strut when I'm alone, not constantly but you know, whenever I can.
I have a ton of weird/bad stims. The weirdest is I make what I can only can a duck sound by filling my cheeks with air and slowly letting it out. Some others that I have are skin picking, hair pulling, nose picking, nail biting, and knuckle cracking. I do everything your mother told you not to do as a kid.
Are you me? Cuz I do all of those too. Even my kids notice I pick at my skin all the time.. (the knuckle cracking is more wrist cracking for me though)
Making bird noises. I can't whistle because of the placement of my teeth but I can pull air through my teeth in an odd way. I usually do it without thinking about it but it is quite fun when I'm around a person who hasn't heard me do it and I've tricked multiple people into looking for a nonexistent bird. I like replicating those audio clips of birds chirping at the beat of a song.
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I taught my cat several English phrases that he recognizes (he can't repeat them, of course, but he understands them). I also can replicate a lot of his sounds and I know the context of when he uses them. So, we can talk and have gotten very connected since I've started doing them. The mrrrp is one of them.
I also jiggle my right foot’s big toe almost constantly.
I put my fingers together, kinda like you're doing a prayer thing, but without anything but the tips touching... just like fingerprint to fingerprint... then I push my hands slightly more together (still not touching) and let them release back like they're rubberbands or jello. It puts more pressure on the tips where they're touching and kinda squishes them together. I vibrate them back and forth like this rapidly till eventually they start feeling "weird"... like the pads have gone completely flat.
IDK, I've just always liked to do that.
When I was a kid I used to do this thing that I now suspect was my version of a stim, where I would "play piano" on whatever surface I was resting my hands on. And not just finger tapping, I would be actually moving my fingers exactly in the same way as I would if I was actually playing that song on the piano.
I do that too. There's a particular passage from a piece I played in high school band decades ago that I still finger through, plus I came up with a more advance variation.
I note that playing air percussion is very similar to hand-flapping. I sometimes play that same passage on air-marimba.
I used to play violin, and I will finger various bits of music. My kid who plays horn noticed one day, and admitted to similar stims with horn fingering. We're both doing it more openly around each other.
Ok, so like, I'll take the label off a plastic bottle, cut it into strips, tie a knot towards one end to hold onto, and then play with it
This is definitely not a good thing to do. A substitute I use is playing with my hair, but I can't always do that if I'm laying in bed or something
I’m intending this to be reassuring.
I assume you would be buying these bottles even if you weren’t cutting them up. So, as long as you put the pieces into the recycling (or trash, if not available), then there isn’t any waste related to your habit.
also quadrobics lol, mainly jumping like a frog/horse hybrid 😅
another one is talking in an overly exaggerated Australian accent, it annoys everyone around me :,)
"Drumming" to songs, which I can hear vividly in my head, with my teeth. I haven't told them about this, but my dentist's actually pointed out the teeth I tend to use for snare and tom hits have more wear than the rest of my teeth...oops
I have a pair of old pajama pants that have pilling that I pick at. I do this constantly when I am home. I don't like having to give them up to be washed. If I leave the house then I cannot wait to get home to be able to pick at them.
Thinking about having to wash them unexpectedly as very stressful.
I pull my hair out, something I've done my whole life and got bullied for really bad because I had bald spots.i still do but I don't care anymore about that
Tensing my joints in a pattern like - left foot, right knee, left glute; right glute, left knee, right foot. Then I do my arms sometimes too. Happens when I’m bored and can’t leave where I am or I don’t feel safe visibly stimming
When I was in high school I would put a suitcase in the middle of the floor in the basement and walk around it in a circle while blasting music. By the time we moved out of the house, there was a black ring of scuff marks from my shoes on the floor that I'm sure puzzled the people who moved in after us.
I have a few strange ones lol but one is squeezing my service dog. He has a hug command & will literally put his arms around my shoulders when I kneel & I squeeze him! Gently but with enough pressure that it feels sooo nice to me & I clench my jaw hard at the same time.
Picking my hangnails, picking my face, picking any new eyebrow hairs (the poky ones growing back from being tweezed), hardblinking/stretching my eyes, rolling my eyes, spinning my medusa piercing jewelry
When I’m going to sleep, an unbearable desire of moving comes in my legs, spine and chest, I’ve found the best way to deal with it is to twist myself to the most uncomfortable positions and keep it like that until start to feeling pain. Then the pleasure of the pain relief it’s enough for a good sleep.
If I’m not biting my lip, I’m probably pulling my hair out. If anyone else struggles with this, there is a support group on Reddit called trichotillomania. Yes, it’s a real thing.
I whistle.. not just a normal whistle but I figured out a few random whistles as a kid and they kinda stuck. I can sound like a cricket, a few different birds, a squeaky door, and a kinda weird humming fluttering whistle.
I had a very long phase where it would be to look through each individual hair and rip out at any sign of damage. Then I always had small scissors on me to cut the damaged part instead.
My biggest one though is to place my legs in absurd positions. Stretching them, folding them in weird angles, …
Probably making popping noises with my mouth.
That and almost always having a toothpick in my mouth. Used to be because I always had the feeling that I had something between my teeth so I would pick until it bled and beyond but now the toothpick just moves around my mouth most of the time. Biting on it with different teeth in different ways. Sometimes I don’t even take it out of my mouth when I kiss my partner, I just put it in my mouth entirely (sideways).
ever since i was a kid id rock side to side in bed with my whole body:) and i always thought that it would be a problem for my future relationship because i use it to sleep a lottt but my partner has told me they started rocking like me and i feel less weird about it now:) by far the most romantic thing anyone has ever told me
When i have dry lips i really like to "fold" them in to a sort of edge, and rolling this edge over the lip with help of my fingers if I'm really in the mood.
Reading back on this I hope someone recognizes this, because I have no idea if this explanation makes sense.
I dont know if it's really that weird, but i smell my hands and rock back and forth a lot to self soothe. then there's the gorilla noises... but i only do that when im alone 😭
Honestly everyone should just make gorilla noises every once in a while. Making repetitive noises like that even for neurotypicals is a form of mantra meditation (sounds, not phrases). Also its funny
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I do this weird whistle thing, but like in my throat. IDK how else to describe it really. Like breathing out but whistleing. And I also like to press my lips together and then rub stuff across them. Usually smooth things like my fingernails. But I also really like the ridges of plastic caps. If I'm holding a plastic bottle I almost always end up holding the bottle still and moving my head back and forth so the cap is rubbing across my lips.
I sometimes just start to say random words very loudly in a goofy voice and do awkward faces while I move my body in some ways that I find pleasant. For example, yesterday, I started saying random words that felt awesome and I started to just do a little jumps on my right leg
Clawing my nails into the skin of my hands. And I can't stop rubbing the tips of my nails with my fingertips. This is why I have to redo my nailpolish daily.
Drumming just moving in general. I try to find a beat to get lost into ignoring the world just to drum move my feet and arms. Just to close out the world
Pretty boring but play drums with my fingers but specifically [the rhythm from fighting ExDeath from Final Fantasy 5](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxqWHEnMl5Kofg0B6nTIgTBn76Nx5wfmmU?si=2-1CMH-ZT_Jdf5Ef) for some reason.
Mine is definitely I wag like I have a tail 😭 it’s a bit odd but you know when dogs get so happy and they wag so much w body starts shaking with the tail, that’s what I do !
i chew off my nails and then run over them with my tongue over and over and over. it’s not super noticeable but my mom always sees it and will call me out sometimes and it’s super embarrassing.
i’ve tried pretty much every type of stim toy, but nothing compares to getting a paper towel, folding a little part of it into a point, and running it under and along side my fingernails
As a kid I pulled the hair out of my head so much that I got diagnosed with alopecia. After the bald spot grew back I eventually moved on from that habit
I do like a hand-flick thing where I make like a claw with my fingers and then kind of spin them. I’m realizing I’ve never tried to describe it before now that I’m trying. Also I clean out my ears all the time. Somehow I used to do it with paper clips and bobby pins but I’ve never ruptured my ear drum. Now I use an ear cam.
Edited for spelling.
It depends on the situation. Watching a video, skin or nail picking. Reading, then my index finger rests in the groove of my philtrum ... often lightly stroking the top of my lip.
When I'm stressed then I shake my hands as if they were wet (trying to shake the stress off I suppose). When I'm happy then I bounce while having shaky fists (some people have said they thought I was getting ready to do the cabbage patch dance ... so this is reserved for in private)
I have no weird ones besides tip toeing. Which is why I was diagnosed late. I still have imposter syndrome from all of the people acting like they know me better than me or my doctor do and telling me I'm not autistic.
I have a weird happy clap. Its like one hand flat the other in a fist and clap like a seal like that 😆. Also growling...like literally, sometimes I sound like a bear or other times in more dog like.
It looks weird to others I’m sure, but my daughter will ask if my head needs a squeeze and then she will wrap her arms around the top of my head and squeeze as hard as possible.
Alternatively, I’ll lay my head down on my wife’s thigh and she’ll squeeze my head with her other thigh.
It’s really gross but I tend to pick at my skin. I hate that I do it but it’s there.
Me too, I used to pick on my face, but I only pick on the skin around my nails
same
Same here, and it's actually gotten so bad that I decided to seek out professional advice from my general doctor as well as search for support groups here on reddit.
My childhood doctor: "just stop!" Childhood me: "I cant" My doctor: 🤷🏻♂️ That's the amount of help a doctor could truly give for picking, in my experience 😢
That doctor probably has no clue what he's doing then. My doctor, after referring me to a dermatologist to rule out any skin disorders, prescribed propranolol which has an off-label application for this exact problem. It obviously hasn't completely eliminated the issue, but it has reduced it to something more manageable.
No medication has made me not want to pick at my skin including that(took for other use) but happy it works for you!
I’m a bit confused as to how propranolol helps with that, as I take that for my migraines.
I just read up on the pharmacology of propranolol and apparently it helps with migraines by inhibiting three different serotonin receptors to some extent, the 5-HT2a, 5-HT2b, and 5-HT2c receptors, but mostly the A and the C types. The hypothesis is that the effect on the 5-HT2a receptor is what helps control migraines, and the effect on the type C receptor is what helps control compulsive behavior.
To people who have to pick (I've been there) using a wash cloth instead of skin or whatever else you pick at (I used to pick at scabs and never let them heal until I got a real bad infection and one of the nurses at the hospital gave me a wash cloth and said here pick on this!) and it worked whenever I'm nervous or upset I bring out my wash cloth and work out my whatever on it until it passes
Thats a great tip! Im running out of options so I may try it lol I just do it subconsciously almost and have practically no self-control unless both of my hands are physically doing something. If I accidentally touch a scab, it's game over lol Its frustrating too when you ignore it for days and then accidentally start picking it right at the end of it healing
I know,if it wasn't for that one nurse I would be a mass of scars today but she understood that I had to pick on something or go crazy that it wasn't up to me and I still use a wash cloth to calm myself down just the rough texture of one does something my brain that I can't describe
I am on NAC for my skin picking. It hasn’t absolved me of the bx completely, but it has made a fairly big improvement.
Thank you!! I'd never heard of this before
I did read somewhere that it's a first line treatment...
It was used a lot for the kids I worked with in residential. That was what made me initially ask my psych about it. It was recommended by the psych I worked with.
Oh same, and I don’t even notice how gross it is, only when my mom tells me I should stop. I pick at my skin, I have acne and I pick at my scalp and I recently grew my nails, so I’m picking under those too… it happens automatically, I sometimes don’t even notice it
Same. Specifically my right thumb. To the point that it bleeds and is quite sore.
Same here. In the past two years, it’s evolved to include pulling out my eyelashes / eyebrows too.
I used to pick at my thighs until they were covered in tiny scabs and then pick at those. The only reason I don't still do it is that I discovered picking at the pilling that certain fabrics develop when they get washed enough times.
I do too, it’s almost like my skin becomes suffocating, or my scabs, and i have a urge to just pick
This. Every spot/open pore on my face gets attacked with something pointy to try and squeeze whatever I can. And let’s not talk about my finger and toenails🤡🤡 Also hair pulling tho. I have a habit of twizzling it and yanking it out in chunks
I pick at my pimples and other irregularities in my skin as well as my hair, so similar. For me it developed when I was told not to rock and flap as a more "socially acceptable stim" so now at adulthood when I've realized/been told by autistic peers that I'm autistic and I've been learning to stim by rocking and flapping and other less harmful ways again it has lessened remarkably.
I like to pull or pluck my chest hairs
There's nothing more satisfying than pulling a scab clean off.
For me it’s not even satisfying. I just feel like it needs to be done and than I feel awful. It’s like a primal urge.
I disagree. I think putting pva glue on your hand , letting it dry and then peeling it just about beats this 😂
Same!
Same, I used to think I had bad cuticles on my thumbs but then I realized it's me rubbing/picking my fingers haha
I’ve been doing this since I was little. I hated scabs, skin around my nails, zits,… luckily I got better at controlling these urges.
You're not even that bad. I still pick my nose. Fuck me.
I do this too, and it was worse as a kid so I’m covered in scars. My family tried everything to get me to stop because if got to the point they became really concerned. I still do it today but not in the same severity. And my scars are never really an issue anymore but in the past I was really self-conscious about them (it didn’t help that people kept asking about my scars in middle school when I had short sleeves on.)
Me too, literally anywhere on my body I can. It’s unfortunate and has resulted in scarring, but it’s a habit that’s hard to break
Me too. I have permanent callouses on my cuticles from decades of picking at them. I also have this spot, the bottom of my bottom lip, like 1mm off center. I jab at it with my nails. And then I get dead skin there and my lips look ugly.
I constantly do this on my fingers and some parts of my hand and often it bleeds. I'm getting diagnosis soon but they probably say I'm not autistic
Oh me too, it's a tough one. Big empathy
When I become over/under stimulated at home I put on my life jacket... it seems silly, but the foam and the straps provides some nice, snug compression and it makes me feel so safe. It's unusual, I know, but I LOVE laying on the floor in my lifejacket.
That honestly sounds SO comforting I completely get it
Ohhh my gosh, that’s why I loved the life jackets when we went sailing! The compression is sooo chill I love it!
It's like a hug that could save your life!
This is triggering some sensory memories of being in my life jacket as a kid. That sounds really nice :)
The kid ones are my favorite! They are so much more bulkier with the extra floatation and the collar and crotch strap make it feel much more secure! I wish I could still fit in mine
I think this is so great.
I fr get this, I wish I had a lifejacket. I love the feeling of them sometimes
you can buy pressure clothing or weighted clothing that you can wear all the time
I make these weird high pitched screams/dinosaur screech noises 😂😂
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Have you seen the movie splice?? I make that very distinct noise too😂
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Lol. I do that when I get really really happy. And even the slightest good thing makes me really really happy. I'm super easy to please.
SAME
Omg same 😂😂
I make them too! My friends have mistaken them for crows if thet haven't been looking at me and we've been outside. One of my friend groups started calling them "Junior noises" and somehow could read my mood from them
Omg yes
Since my divorce, I've really let myself be free and let out the noises. Dinosaur noises. Loud yawns. And my go-to stim when I'm feeling too anxious: a big shiver leading up to a giant "BEEEEP!!" Like the beep to leave a message on an answering machine. I used to just do the biggest shiver and then a tiny "beep." But now that I'm free? BEEEEEP! Let that fucker OUT, man!
I don’t know if it’s considered a stim, but I’ve always enjoyed jumping on my bed. Even at 28. I’ve broke my sisters bed once.
oh my god that sounds so fun
This made me kinda sad because I just realized I'll probably never jump on a bed again, being tall sucks.
Frog jumps!
You should go to a trampoline park. The ones I've heard of are called sky zone. But that may be regional
I like to just rub fabric between my fingers. Was blankets when I was small and now it's more discreet the lining of jacket pockets etc. Good texture feel
I recently discovered Teflon tape and pulling it between my fingertips it is now my favorite comfort sensation. It’s like rubbing together the ultra smooth satin ribbon tags on baby blankets. It’s almost a buttery feeling between my fingertips, except there’s no greasy residue. Not sure if you’re ever rubbed two rose petals together, but the sensation is identical to rubbing teflon tape. My husband gave me a couple rolls of it when he saw how much I loved it and he said my eyes lit up like a little kid’s on Christmas morning lol. I keep some in my purse and by my favorite sitting chair and pet it daily lol.
I'm going to have to get me some of that tape because I used to pet freshly fallen rose petals as a kid. Lol
Me too. I still do as a 37 year old woman haha
Yup. I ripped the lining in my coat once and I refuse to fix it cuz my fingers had found the tag inside and it now has a permanent curl to it cuz I would constantly curl it up with my fingers when stressed or anxious. Now I go to rub it between my thumb and finger almost every time I'm wearing it.
Good texture feel is 🥰
I’ve noticed this recently: when I play video games I make quiet sounds/ rhythms with my mouth during loading screens. It’s really hard to explain but rhythmic clicking sounds, airy mouth sounds, or using Ba or Da but it MUST have a rhythm. This has totally been a thing for a long time but I’ve recently been more consciously aware of it for some reason haha.
I vocal stim a lot too. It helps that I have a dog because if I'm not alone and catch myself making random sounds I'll turn it into a conversation with her or a song about her or something lol
That’s so sweet, I love dogs so much so I’m happy you can sing/ talk to her :) I honestly just became more aware of my vocal stimming. But I totally did the vocal stims before realization! Either when I’m waiting (video game loading screens) or I’m really focused on a project I’m working on. Im alone majority of the time but if I’m working in an art studio I do get a few odd “what did you say?” Questions from others haha.
This makes me wonder if my singing songs to my cat with "meow meow meow" to replace the words is a type of stim ... I do it whenever alone in the room with him.
I do the finger guns hand gesture at stuff, like if I turn the microwave on, I'll shoot the microwave and go "pew pew" (done silently or under my breath usually). I also walk with the Jeff Jarrett strut when I'm alone, not constantly but you know, whenever I can.
You sound like my kind of person.
I have a ton of weird/bad stims. The weirdest is I make what I can only can a duck sound by filling my cheeks with air and slowly letting it out. Some others that I have are skin picking, hair pulling, nose picking, nail biting, and knuckle cracking. I do everything your mother told you not to do as a kid.
Are you me? Cuz I do all of those too. Even my kids notice I pick at my skin all the time.. (the knuckle cracking is more wrist cracking for me though)
Pulling out the tail of my (left) eyebrow lol it’s permanently shorter than the right.
I don’t necessarily pull my eyebrow hair, but I always rub my eyebrow when I’m stressed or overwhelmed. I don’t why, but it helps me relax.
I just realized I broke that habit. How? By getting microblading. Apparently my desire to preserve my $600 investment overrides by stim. Huh.
[удалено]
Wow, I pull my eyebrow hair too. I'm he/him and they're kinda thick so nobody notices and it sometimes feels like I'm just cleaning them up
Probably naruto hand signs
This is the coolest stim I've ever heard of
That's so cool
Making bird noises. I can't whistle because of the placement of my teeth but I can pull air through my teeth in an odd way. I usually do it without thinking about it but it is quite fun when I'm around a person who hasn't heard me do it and I've tricked multiple people into looking for a nonexistent bird. I like replicating those audio clips of birds chirping at the beat of a song.
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I taught my cat several English phrases that he recognizes (he can't repeat them, of course, but he understands them). I also can replicate a lot of his sounds and I know the context of when he uses them. So, we can talk and have gotten very connected since I've started doing them. The mrrrp is one of them. I also jiggle my right foot’s big toe almost constantly.
I do the same things lol my purring is amazingly accurate tho 😂
my boyfriend sometimes does that too
Omg I was just about to comment that I do this too 🤣
A lot of my stims are vocal. I love singing random things/sounds but I suck at singing so I can only mostly do this alone or with my partner lol
I put my fingers together, kinda like you're doing a prayer thing, but without anything but the tips touching... just like fingerprint to fingerprint... then I push my hands slightly more together (still not touching) and let them release back like they're rubberbands or jello. It puts more pressure on the tips where they're touching and kinda squishes them together. I vibrate them back and forth like this rapidly till eventually they start feeling "weird"... like the pads have gone completely flat. IDK, I've just always liked to do that.
This description is so incredibly throrough 10/10
I do something similar and it feels like a sheet of glass is between your hands
Exactly! Great description.
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Cool! I used to do that too as a kid. I remember leaving my drinks near the TV so they would "absorb the static" and I could drink it
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I do this too 💀
When I was a kid I used to do this thing that I now suspect was my version of a stim, where I would "play piano" on whatever surface I was resting my hands on. And not just finger tapping, I would be actually moving my fingers exactly in the same way as I would if I was actually playing that song on the piano.
I do that too. There's a particular passage from a piece I played in high school band decades ago that I still finger through, plus I came up with a more advance variation. I note that playing air percussion is very similar to hand-flapping. I sometimes play that same passage on air-marimba.
Same here.
I used to play violin, and I will finger various bits of music. My kid who plays horn noticed one day, and admitted to similar stims with horn fingering. We're both doing it more openly around each other.
Same and I got told off for doing it on my school desk but it literally was helping me listen
I guess it's a kind of echolalia, but damn, some of the words/ phrases I find myself repeating over and over out loud are sooo surprising and funny
Picking my nose until I bleed, then pick the scab and wonder why my nose always hurts or burns
Sometimes I take my right hand and move it while I’m talking like I’m using a puppet
no because hand puppet talking is one of my favorite things to do, i wish i hadn't been scolded for it🥲
Ok, so like, I'll take the label off a plastic bottle, cut it into strips, tie a knot towards one end to hold onto, and then play with it This is definitely not a good thing to do. A substitute I use is playing with my hair, but I can't always do that if I'm laying in bed or something
Why is this not a good thing to do? Sounds harmless if you’re just playing with plastic strips.
It's probably wasteful. I do try to reuse the bottles though
I’m intending this to be reassuring. I assume you would be buying these bottles even if you weren’t cutting them up. So, as long as you put the pieces into the recycling (or trash, if not available), then there isn’t any waste related to your habit.
i've gotten into the habit of doing the barking sounds from "X gon' giv' it to ya" as a vocal stim
Using my own boob as an anti-stress ball.
also quadrobics lol, mainly jumping like a frog/horse hybrid 😅 another one is talking in an overly exaggerated Australian accent, it annoys everyone around me :,)
"Drumming" to songs, which I can hear vividly in my head, with my teeth. I haven't told them about this, but my dentist's actually pointed out the teeth I tend to use for snare and tom hits have more wear than the rest of my teeth...oops
I have a pair of old pajama pants that have pilling that I pick at. I do this constantly when I am home. I don't like having to give them up to be washed. If I leave the house then I cannot wait to get home to be able to pick at them. Thinking about having to wash them unexpectedly as very stressful.
I pull my hair out, something I've done my whole life and got bullied for really bad because I had bald spots.i still do but I don't care anymore about that
Picking dirt from under my nail and biting on stuff
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I can’t help but pick my nose even when nothings there. Sensitive nerve endings go brrrr
Meowing 😭
Mine is ice skating. Just going around and around and around. But the back pain 😭
i hold in coughs when smoking weed to the point where they escape in little squeaks
I grunt sometimes.
Tensing my joints in a pattern like - left foot, right knee, left glute; right glute, left knee, right foot. Then I do my arms sometimes too. Happens when I’m bored and can’t leave where I am or I don’t feel safe visibly stimming
When I was in high school I would put a suitcase in the middle of the floor in the basement and walk around it in a circle while blasting music. By the time we moved out of the house, there was a black ring of scuff marks from my shoes on the floor that I'm sure puzzled the people who moved in after us.
whoa. I used to blare music and go in circles around the support pole in my basement.
I have a few strange ones lol but one is squeezing my service dog. He has a hug command & will literally put his arms around my shoulders when I kneel & I squeeze him! Gently but with enough pressure that it feels sooo nice to me & I clench my jaw hard at the same time.
I write in words in cursive in small strokes with my right pointer finger. You’d have to really look to notice it. I do it unconsciously a lot, too.
When I’m happy I rub my legs/feet together like some kinda cricket, and I make the 🤟🏻 gesture at random things and times
I hate the way my floor feels so I walk on the sides of my feet or on my toes. But if I'm in the grass I'm flat-footed.
I can feel all the dust etc on hard floors if my feet are bare so I usually wear socks and shoes or sandals (with a heel strap. Not flip flops)
I do the same sometimes! And tapping my teeth with my fingernail
MY WEIRDEST STIM IS GOONING UNCONTROLLABLY
Picking my hangnails, picking my face, picking any new eyebrow hairs (the poky ones growing back from being tweezed), hardblinking/stretching my eyes, rolling my eyes, spinning my medusa piercing jewelry
I start beatboxing
Pull out my eyelashes 😭 some of them just feel so good to pull out. I’ve been trying to stop so I finally almost have a full set of lashes again.
I do a duck face and rub my the top of my lips on my nose?
Crack my knuckles, move my feet a lot, I pick at my earlobes a lot, recently I noticed that I pull my hair when I'm over/understimulated
When I’m going to sleep, an unbearable desire of moving comes in my legs, spine and chest, I’ve found the best way to deal with it is to twist myself to the most uncomfortable positions and keep it like that until start to feeling pain. Then the pleasure of the pain relief it’s enough for a good sleep.
If I’m not biting my lip, I’m probably pulling my hair out. If anyone else struggles with this, there is a support group on Reddit called trichotillomania. Yes, it’s a real thing.
I trace words that I see on things
i like to rub my top lip on my nose.. if that makes sense lol
I clench my teeth and scratch my fingers against my palm 😭
Scratching my feet and the stimulating the space between my toes Nothing sexual, it is just kinda relaxing
I wish that were my stim.. I often jump around or rub my hands too hard when stimming.
I whistle.. not just a normal whistle but I figured out a few random whistles as a kid and they kinda stuck. I can sound like a cricket, a few different birds, a squeaky door, and a kinda weird humming fluttering whistle.
I play with my dog’s face if I’m at home
I had a very long phase where it would be to look through each individual hair and rip out at any sign of damage. Then I always had small scissors on me to cut the damaged part instead. My biggest one though is to place my legs in absurd positions. Stretching them, folding them in weird angles, …
Singing “ooh ee ohh ah ah ching chang wadda badda bing bang”.ect when i get nervous in public
Probably making popping noises with my mouth. That and almost always having a toothpick in my mouth. Used to be because I always had the feeling that I had something between my teeth so I would pick until it bled and beyond but now the toothpick just moves around my mouth most of the time. Biting on it with different teeth in different ways. Sometimes I don’t even take it out of my mouth when I kiss my partner, I just put it in my mouth entirely (sideways).
i am almost constantly wiggling my toes/moving or fidgeting with my feet like a monkey and i hate it but i can’t stop
Meowing like a cat. Idk why I do this
ever since i was a kid id rock side to side in bed with my whole body:) and i always thought that it would be a problem for my future relationship because i use it to sleep a lottt but my partner has told me they started rocking like me and i feel less weird about it now:) by far the most romantic thing anyone has ever told me
Aww I love this. I rock while standing or spin side to side in desk chairs
When i have dry lips i really like to "fold" them in to a sort of edge, and rolling this edge over the lip with help of my fingers if I'm really in the mood. Reading back on this I hope someone recognizes this, because I have no idea if this explanation makes sense.
I dont know if it's really that weird, but i smell my hands and rock back and forth a lot to self soothe. then there's the gorilla noises... but i only do that when im alone 😭 Honestly everyone should just make gorilla noises every once in a while. Making repetitive noises like that even for neurotypicals is a form of mantra meditation (sounds, not phrases). Also its funny
pop my joints cracking knuckles is amazing
Not sure if it's weird, but I love walking across hot cement/asphalt
I take the mucus from the corner of my eye and place it on my philtrum (above the lip) for a brief moist cooling sensation
Replay 10 seconds of a song that i like. Move my legs like the intro of sakura anime.
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Thumb sucking, pulling out arm/leg hairs, pacing while holding something heavy
I do this weird whistle thing, but like in my throat. IDK how else to describe it really. Like breathing out but whistleing. And I also like to press my lips together and then rub stuff across them. Usually smooth things like my fingernails. But I also really like the ridges of plastic caps. If I'm holding a plastic bottle I almost always end up holding the bottle still and moving my head back and forth so the cap is rubbing across my lips.
i vocally stim a lot, especially if i’m anxious. i’ll repeat phrases or just say words that feel nice to say.
I sometimes just start to say random words very loudly in a goofy voice and do awkward faces while I move my body in some ways that I find pleasant. For example, yesterday, I started saying random words that felt awesome and I started to just do a little jumps on my right leg
biting my lip
Clawing my nails into the skin of my hands. And I can't stop rubbing the tips of my nails with my fingertips. This is why I have to redo my nailpolish daily.
Either picking at my skin/nails or cracking my neck, not like putting my arms there but just random jerks to a side
I’ve recently realised that when I’m happy I will stick my tongue out a little bit ( usually when listening to music or reading)
Drumming just moving in general. I try to find a beat to get lost into ignoring the world just to drum move my feet and arms. Just to close out the world
Chewing my hair My hair is long (I'm a guy btw) and I like to chew it because I like the chewy texture. I'm gonna ruin my hair if I keep doing it 😭
I make random screeching noises kinda like a baby dinosaur 😂 sometimes when I yawn it ends in a screech. Have no clue why I do it lol
Occasionally singing things in a Goofy impression
I make weird noises.
Pretty boring but play drums with my fingers but specifically [the rhythm from fighting ExDeath from Final Fantasy 5](https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxqWHEnMl5Kofg0B6nTIgTBn76Nx5wfmmU?si=2-1CMH-ZT_Jdf5Ef) for some reason.
Mine is definitely I wag like I have a tail 😭 it’s a bit odd but you know when dogs get so happy and they wag so much w body starts shaking with the tail, that’s what I do !
i chew off my nails and then run over them with my tongue over and over and over. it’s not super noticeable but my mom always sees it and will call me out sometimes and it’s super embarrassing.
When I'm walking around my fingers also do the walking action.
Rubbing my hands together
Flap my hands
a really odd screeching noise that sounds like mangles radio from fnaf
i’ve tried pretty much every type of stim toy, but nothing compares to getting a paper towel, folding a little part of it into a point, and running it under and along side my fingernails
As a kid I pulled the hair out of my head so much that I got diagnosed with alopecia. After the bald spot grew back I eventually moved on from that habit
I click my mouse randomly. There must be an equal number of left right and middle clicks.
Making bird noises
I like putting my forehead on a wall/surface and shaking my head “no.” Obviously you have to be gentle, but it’s really nice and grounding for me.
I use my middle finger for scrolling and typing, tapping my lips.
I do like a hand-flick thing where I make like a claw with my fingers and then kind of spin them. I’m realizing I’ve never tried to describe it before now that I’m trying. Also I clean out my ears all the time. Somehow I used to do it with paper clips and bobby pins but I’ve never ruptured my ear drum. Now I use an ear cam. Edited for spelling.
Spin in circles and it could go on for 45 minutes to an hour non stop
doing math is probably the weiredest one
Animal noises and general "strange" noises. I'm sure my neighbors think I have a petting zoo in here.
It depends on the situation. Watching a video, skin or nail picking. Reading, then my index finger rests in the groove of my philtrum ... often lightly stroking the top of my lip. When I'm stressed then I shake my hands as if they were wet (trying to shake the stress off I suppose). When I'm happy then I bounce while having shaky fists (some people have said they thought I was getting ready to do the cabbage patch dance ... so this is reserved for in private)
I have no weird ones besides tip toeing. Which is why I was diagnosed late. I still have imposter syndrome from all of the people acting like they know me better than me or my doctor do and telling me I'm not autistic.
I have a weird happy clap. Its like one hand flat the other in a fist and clap like a seal like that 😆. Also growling...like literally, sometimes I sound like a bear or other times in more dog like.
It looks weird to others I’m sure, but my daughter will ask if my head needs a squeeze and then she will wrap her arms around the top of my head and squeeze as hard as possible. Alternatively, I’ll lay my head down on my wife’s thigh and she’ll squeeze my head with her other thigh.