Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello, I was only recently diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, It was six years ago and only recently have I taken the diagnosis very seriously.
Some sort of enlightenment has dawned but one behaviour I have that may or may not be stimming is thumb sucking, it is usually only something I do asleep, which is where my ego has no control, but, on public transport, which I use but little, I find I want to suck my thumb maybe to reduce stress, and I do feel that people bite their nails or smoke in public so why should I desist?
I know that the wider public considers the habit rather odd in a person of my age but would the enforced discontinuation of it be masking?
When using computers, which I hate, it is also better to suck rather than shout I find.
I have of course repeatedly had the New Year Resolution of I really must stop sucking my thumb many times, except once in about 1998 in Eskdale where I pointedly sucked my thumb at a New Year's Day Party. Is it O.K. to do this, is it stimming or is it just flagrant attention seeking? The fact that I do it more often in private does suggest that it is more than an affectation but another inescapable fact is that it is corrosive to self esteem and that this is not entirely down to negative public reaction.
Some public reaction, funnily enough, was quite supportive, but never it there ever going to be a thumb sucking pride parade unless some toddlers get strangely politically aware.
Well I was just wondering if anyone else here had seen or heard of this as a stimming behaviour? The internet is very wide of course and so I have come across an autistic thumb sucker or two who was an adult, but that maybe nothing to do with autism.
I am now 40 and I sucked my thumb well into my early 30’s I’d guess and I’m not sure exactly when, but I did eventually stop. I do know i started when I was 3 or 4 my mom was married to a drunkard, loud abusive man and I would hide under my cover and suck my thumb until the screaming stopped or my mom came to find me. I sucked my thumb through elementary, middle and high school no one knew unless I wanted them to. But I felt very ashamed like I always had a terrible secret just waiting to come out. My parents tried everything to get me stop… nail biter polish, hot sauce…duct taped socks on my little hands, bribed me, begged me but I still continued my mom was frustrated she said I was wrecking my teeth and she used to say she was going to put dog sh!t on it but I never stopped. I grew up got married had 3 children. Through all the years and changes I was still sneaking whenever I could sucking my thumb while watching television, reading or especially to go to sleep. My husband was a alcoholic and was very abusive but he didn’t make a big deal out if it. Eventually we got a divorce, i was 26 by now…the same year I lost my dad to cancer he was only 42. After that I lost custody of my children and started taking prescription pain pills. I struggled a few years with addiction, recovered and the thumb sucking continued. It was constant always there and it was comforting. Now I didn’t so much suck my thumb so much as place in it my mouth with my pointer around my nose and my hand resting on my face. Tjis caused disfigurement of my thumb (to this day it is slightly smaller) mouth, jaw and teeth. This was a huge problem I could not hide and I felt very insecure. So in my late 20s I got teeth fixed and this was the start of the end of my thumb sucking…for one my mouth hurt and for 2 the reason I had to go through all of the pain and embarrassment was the thumb sucking and 3 I had been ckean now a couple of years I was working slot of hours keeping busy and working on myself. The thumb sucking gradually slowed down then stopped all together. I gave t thought about it in years but I sleep on my back now I used to sleep on my belly or in a fetal position with the blanket over my head. I have recently wondered if I am on the spectrum and it just went unnoticed.