Rocking to sleep>
Question:
Hello again My name is sandy. I am not new to the group, just absent for quite a while. Anyhow, when I was younger I used to do the strangest thing. I used to lay on my right side with my left hand in front of my chest and my right hand behing me but on the bed. I would then rock back and forth in a rythym until I had huge knots in my hair, and the bed moved clearl across the room. For hours and hours sometimes. Usually this would stop when I would become soooo exausted that I would fall asleep. I would usually do this with music on and kinda make up dreams that would make me happy. Think of good thoughts, see myself as a singer, dancer, and used to pretend I was driving (at 11) all my friends to my favorite places ect. I stopped this when I was married due to embarrassment, and became instantly depressed. Also I was REAL physically over-exagerated with everything I did and had a rocking chair in every room (still do). I continued to rock my foot back and forth and sometimes my entire legs, (in a rythym of course) to get to sleep at night. This continued until I was 35 and began stim. meds. I am now 37. Is this as abnormal as I think? Does anyone know of an explation as to what this is? Or has anyone ever heard of it? I was once told by a Pyschologist that I did this due to an unhappy child hood. I did not and still do not agree. It just seemed to be so relaxing. Maybe an endorphine release! They strange thing, my son who NEVER witnessed this also rocked the same way but he did it in the middle of the night. He too has been diagnosed ADHD but with many other symptoms of course. Anyhow… PLEASE, if you did the same thing let me know with details, if you can. PLEASE email me with replys. sandy
Response:
Hello, Sandy! My ADHD son has always rocked. We got him a spring horse (WonderHorse) when he was little and he absolutely wore it and a 2nd one out rocking and singing. After he outgrew the horse, he would sit in the rocking chair or out back in the swing and rock/swing and sing. At school at recess, he would go to a swing and sing, even when most of the kids would make fun of him. (Some would make song requests.) If he couldn’t swing or rock while he sang, it just wasn’t as satisfying to him, and he would sometimes get very upset if he couldn’t rock or swing when he wanted to listen to music. He’s 15 now, and he still prefers to listen to his headphones and LD player in the living room in the rocking chair. Kay Dallas, TX
Response:
I would then rock back and forth in a rythym until I had huge knots in my hair
My younger sister used to do this constantly. She worried when she got married that she’d bother her husband with it (worried, I mean, when she was 10 years old). She doesn’t do it anymore, though, and I’m sure Jim appreciates it! <G By the way, she does not have ADHD. — Ann annbal*at*thecia.net-remove the 9 Spambot protection. Make the obvious change. Sorry.
Response:
I don’t know about the rocking thing, but I know when I was a kid, we lived close to a playground, and I would spend a LOT of time swinging. Did that till I was almost 15 and we moved. At that point, I think I substituted talking my mom’s ear off every day after school for the swinging. 
Later, Pam — OffRoad 1.9v unregistered
Response:
sandy, I have always rocked myself to sleep, by shaking my foot…also in times of stress I notice that i jiggle my foot..legs ..everything. It’s not weird at all. and by the way. My son has been diagnosed add…not me Robin – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hello again My name is sandy. I am not new to the group, just absent for quite a while. Anyhow, when I was younger I used to do the strangest thing. I used to lay on my right side with my left hand in front of my chest and my right hand behing me but on the bed. I would then rock back and forth in a rythym until I had huge knots in my hair, and the bed moved clearl across the room. For hours and hours sometimes. Usually this would stop when I would become soooo exausted that I would fall asleep. I would usually do this with music on and kinda make up dreams that would make me happy. Think of good thoughts, see myself as a singer, dancer, and used to pretend I was driving (at 11) all my friends to my favorite places ect. I stopped this when I was married due to embarrassment, and became instantly depressed. Also I was REAL physically over-exagerated with everything I did and had a rocking chair in every room (still do). I continued to rock my foot back and forth and sometimes my entire legs, (in a rythym of course) to get to sleep at night. This continued until I was 35 and began stim. meds. I am now 37. Is this as abnormal as I think? Does anyone know of an explation as to what this is? Or has anyone ever heard of it? I was once told by a Pyschologist that I did this due to an unhappy child hood. I did not and still do not agree. It just seemed to be so relaxing. Maybe an endorphine release! They strange thing, my son who NEVER witnessed this also rocked the same way but he did it in the middle of the night. He too has been diagnosed ADHD but with many other symptoms of course. Anyhow… PLEASE, if you did the same thing let me know with details, if you can. PLEASE email me with replys. sandy
Response:
Rocking and fidgeting of various sorts, often in repeating, almost ritualistic patterns, is a very common symptom in ADD, probably connected at base to some of the same neurological roots that in more intense forms lead to TS (Tourette’s Syndrome) and/or OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder). It’s becoming increasingly well accepted that ADD and these other neurobiological conditions exist on a spectrum where parts of each can mix and match by degrees. If the symptoms were distressing or disabling, you might seek a neuro consult to rule out full-fledged TS or OCD (both of which can be medicated), but if it’s just at the level of a comfortable, and comforting, release of pent-up energy, you can probably consider it, like a lot of ADDish traits, "quirky but not abnormal" <grin. Carla Nelson
Response:
Rocking you say? I have always been a rocker, even now at 50 years old. I know it was part of my ADD and I honor that part. I find it calms me, sometimes allows me to focus more. It use to drive my mother nuts. She thought I must be retarded and often said so, poor mother, if she only knew that it was from her that I inherited ADD. OH Well, it’s part of me and who I am. I do find that if I am agitated, I do rock. You can tell how mad I am by how fast I wiggle my foot. The faster it goes, the more distance should be put between us. I think it must be part of ADD. It’s just the way it is. Thank God going bald is not part of it! ToolGal
