It's so weird to me when people compare tics and stims. Like, yeah, from the outside, some tics can look like stims, but as someone who tics and stims, the experience is very different.
I happened to get a tic on video so I decided to share what my tic looks like, then describe how it feels. This is my most common tic and I've had it for over 10 years. My tics can be a lot more intense than this one. Some affect my whole body. Some cause me to jump or fall.
[image description: a white person with a shaved head and black tunnels wearing a black hoodie and facing forward quickly jerks their head back and to the right]
It's weird to see it. It feels so much different than it looks.
It starts with a feeling down my spine, almost like a shiver. This feeling builds and builds, crawling up my neck until...Snap! My head jerks back and my shoulder jerks up to meet it until Smash, my jaw collides with my body shoulder.
My neck is sore and kind of throbbing. My jaw aches like I've been punched. My shoulder tingles and tight muscles stretch up to bind my neck.
I've had at least ten tics in the past half hour. The headache that had finally left seems to be creeping back in, a dull, building pulsing in my head. Ugh.
