# Sensory stimulation!



## rhianna (Aug 21, 2016)

Hi friends. I want to share a new thing that has been helping me out with some really irritating dpdr symptoms - sensory stimulation (mostly in the form of fidgeting)!!!

A bit of background; I'm a first year college student, and I've been experiencing this weird disorder for around 2 years, since a very sudden onset of it when I was 17. My symptoms fluctuate over time in terms of intensity as well as which symptoms are even there, but most of what I struggle with depends on the environment. When I'm at school, being a busy student with a lot of classes and an active social life, most of the dissociative/unreality symptoms are toned down quite a bit. That's great, however, they're replaced with what I refer to as "ADD-like symptoms" - loss of memory, impaired short term memory, trouble focusing and staying on task, big issues with attention and concentration, auditory processing, and sorting my thoughts into words. This becomes a big issue when I'm trying to pay attention in class and have many conversations with many intelligent people, meanwhile my brain won't let me focus or process anything or produce coherent sentences.

Anyways, I have recently discovered that sensory stimulation is relatively helpful with these symptoms. More helpful than anything else I've tried, anyways. I have started carrying around one of those Tangle Jr sensory toys with me everywhere and I fidget with it all day long. I can't exactly explain why this helps, but it does, and I'm sure you could find some scientific journals online that will tell you why. Fidgeting with something stimulating makes it a bit easier for me to focus my major attention on one thing (such as a lecturer), and it even helps me think quicker when trying to put my thoughts into words, so my speech isn't as messy. Some other things I've used include play-doh or some type of slime/putty (putting it in a ziploc bag makes it less messy), stress balls, Fidget Cubes, basically anything that I find soothing to fidget with.

Hopefully this might help someone who has been struggling with this disorder! If you have any similar experiences or advice feel free to share them below


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## tfiio (Nov 10, 2016)

fidget fidget fidget

I find that fidgeting helps me with feeling anxious, as well. I actually recently got myself one of those fuzzy tangle jrs, my significant other keeps borrowing it from me, haha. my favorite though are these squishy, sticky eyeballs I found at target for halloween last year. target has a lot of good stuff for cheap fidgets, if anyone is looking. check the little bargain zone thingy they keep by the door, and the seasonal aisle. there's also online shops dedicated to fidgets, both independently hosted and on etsy, which are mostly targeted at people with ASD but are equally useful for anyone that wants to fidget. (also, uh. if you specifically like squishy fuzzy things like pocket-sized stuffed animals, I make those. haha.)

I think that part of the reason it helps you focus and helps me calm down is that both are sort of motivated by some degree of sensory overload. there's just so much happening, even if objectively there's not much happening, and bringing your senses to focus on one thing can sort of help clear up the rest. so when you fidget, your mind isn't bouncing around as quickly, and when I fidget, I don't feel so overwhelmed. does that sound right?


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## rhianna (Aug 21, 2016)

tfiio said:


> I think that part of the reason it helps you focus and helps me calm down is that both are sort of motivated by some degree of sensory overload. there's just so much happening, even if objectively there's not much happening, and bringing your senses to focus on one thing can sort of help clear up the rest. so when you fidget, your mind isn't bouncing around as quickly, and when I fidget, I don't feel so overwhelmed. does that sound right?


That definitely sounds right! I assumed that it was something like that. It's really easy for me to get overwhelmed with all that's going on and then just start dissociating away from it, so fidgeting helps distract my attention to a point where I can get more a grip on it. I think it's similar to ADHD, which is apparent to me because my partner has ADHD and struggles with similar attention and communication issues as I do (for different reasons, of course). She also finds that fidgeting helps her with that.


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