Do I stim?

Okay, so I'm 54M who is diagnosed ADHD C & ASD.

Do I stim? good question. If you'd of asked me this months ago. i'd of said "i don't think so No!"

However, over the past 6-8 weeks I've been noticing things that may or may not be stimmimg.....They could be tic's caused by Tourette's syndrome.

These are the stims/tics I have noticed.....

I make throat noises, mostly when I'm alone but sometimes with company (I've done this for as long as I can remember)

I will twitch my muscles either to a tune, or just randomly all over my body (mostly muscles in my  face, legs and arms )

This next one is really difficult to explain but I will try ...

I will outline shapes or objects I can see using the muscles in my face or body (muscle twitching again) Let me explain... lets say I see a round wall clock, I will create (or outline) a circle using the muscles in my face. So lets say i will slightly tense the muscles in my chin, then along my jaw line up to my eye, then across my forehead down the otherside of my face, back to my chin. I dont over tense however just enough for me to know I'm doing it. I will also use a larger area to outlines shapes from my head to my feet. I 've done this for as long as I can remeber also. I know it must sound a really strange thing to do but I gues it's some sort of stim or coping stratagy.

Like hand flapping, I think I may have substituted the hands for my toes. I will flap (for a better word) my toes up and down, either randomly or to a tune or song.

Any advice or thoughts are most welcome.

Thank you for reading.

  • I have a Spotify playlist where all the tunes have a rhythm in the 125-130 BPM range. I like to walk quickly when I'm outside and this tempo means that one foot strikes the ground exactly on the beat (I prefer my left foot to my right foot for this, even though I'm right-footed). The tunes are mostly instrumental techno, which I wouldn't ordinarily listen to; it's just for clearing my mind while walking.

    Every once in a while, I'll try to maintain that walking tempo while avoiding stepping on the lines/cracks. It's not an OCD thing, I just sometimes find it fun to do, a little extra challenge to keep me occupied and calm my thoughts.

  • my stims I think are all subtle.. I doodle on paper - often just drawing basic shapes I tend to rub my index nail against my thumb nail, I play with my hands, brush my fingers on my beard on chin

  • These all sound fabulous. I do the one to music where I twitch muscles along with the tune smiling face with hearts