Body rocking

[Pauledh]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could help me figure out something... Up until about 4 years ago I would body-rock. Im now 34, from the age of I realy dont know when... since my memory started at the age of say 2 i would body rock. I'd lie on the floor and rock for between a few minutes up to 6 hours or more. I'd rock on the floor and day dream and it seems that the rocking motion would help me day dream and I'd end up in almost in a trance. It completly messed up my education... instead of studying I'd body rock and dream whenever possible.... I mean I was totaly addicted to it, it may seam strange but it got worse from childhood. Im my teens and twenties i spent most of my spare time doing this, once I got to the age to start listening to music I'd body rock with music playing, with the different type of music depending one what i wanded to dream about or vice versa. It could be for the whole weekend and I've lost so much my life doing this.... You would'nt believe. I don't believe I'm autistic... i dont seem to show any other signs... I have a good career now and live a happy life but I'd like to understand what happened to me for all those years.

I'm not entirely sure this is the right forum, maybe it should be mental health but if anyone could help me understand I would much appreciatre your thoughts! If not i will try the other forums. Thanks for your time

[Buzz12345]

Celexa (Citalopram), 20mg a day, did the trick for me.  Now, even if I TRY to rock -- like I did hours every day for decades before -- I don't get the same sense of exhilaration and comfort back that sustained it before.  Now I get more productive hours in my day.  I also seem to get to sleep faster, as if it's because my only entry back into the dream state I enjoyed while rocking before is now a good night's sleep.  

[crb1487]

Thank you!
In reading about this issue that has always been a part of me although NOTHING as much as it has for my 6 yr old grandbaby....

Maybe, something hopes if I help her I help me or vice versa...

I am PTSD/ADHD/OCD
Now, None of these diagnoses came until my son died from Sudden Death in his 20s....
He was also, ADHD
So, I don't Know...
Many of these were issues all my life but, Guess I just thought something was always wrong with me...
Lately, (last 2 weeks for sure,) I've noticed an unexplainable, lost-ness, sadness, empty & dead feeling that is growing so much stronger & I can't explain why & I can't seem to shake & my friends seem to not want to discuss it, but maybe, if this could help...
I will talk to my Dr. when I can get in next...

I have so much emptiness I can't explain. So much
Gone or just not here any more...

I really would like to stop taking Sertraline and Ritalin & Chantix...
Something's not working right lately that I can't explain to anyone.... But, I'm scared & KNOW I need to try something different.
I will call for an apt aft the New Year...
Than you & Everyone posting here...

[Darg]

Wow...lots of rockers here. I too thought I was alone in this aspect...to some degree. I use to rock as a child on my hands and knees, head on the ground, in a rolling back and forth motion. Then as I aged, around 3 or 4, I started bouncing my head up and down on the pillow at night. My parents called it "fighting the head board" because many times I would be completely asleep (or rather dazed) and would be banging my head on the head board to the degree of bleeding at times. I finally stopped bouncing at age 17 or so. I started rocking on the couch when I had my first baby. I would rock him back and forth for hours. Then my next 2 I did the same way. I am now 42 years old and still rock back and forth to this day. I love to rock.
I do not have a problem with thinking about what I look like to other people, because I really don't care. I am not bothering them. My problem is lately, by rib cage has began to bother me. the lower part in the front on each side and center. Sometimes it feels swollen. Has anyone else experienced this? I like the rocking and wish to continue on (its so soothing :)) but cannot with the pain.....

[supadaz]

thank you for your input, music is also the trigger for my daughters rocking, and she absolutely loves her music, she's 17 and has started university last week, staying in halls ( shared accommodation ) so I will have to wait and see if it affects her in her new enviroment, with regard to there being a cure, I just stopped doing it sometime during my late teen years, I have no doubt at all that my rocking was the result of trauma ( my father dying when I was eight years old ) I started playing the drums when I was 17 and that became a major part of my life for about ten years, I cannot remember ever rocking after that age but give me a rocking chair and I can just rock for ages :-)

[rockingbilly343]

Hello everyone. I stumbled across this discussion after entering rocking back and forth into a search engine. I was amazed to find I was not alone. Now forty, I've rocked my entire life. Thinking back, I did it most acutely in my teens and early twenties. Home life was always very loving and comforting, although we moved house often due to my dad's work. However bullying at secondary school was pretty regular, so rocking was an escape. I would often put headphones on and listen to music for hours on end whilst rocking against the wall. It's shocking to think how much time was lost doing this!
As a child I drove my family mad with it. Mum used to tell everyone and anyone about it. Visitors would be sent up to my room to catch me doing it which was terribly embarrassing and humiliating. The subsequent mocking would make me feel ashamed. I would usually be told I was autistic or that I was retarded, a word I now hate.
However it has always been a comfort. In the daydreaming that came with rocking I was a hero like a top footballer, or one of my favourite film characters. I have always been a bit socially awkward, but in the daydreams I was someone special.
In middle age I still do it from time to time and I honestly don't really think it does any harm. Although I find I do it in phases now. I've recently been doing it after a couple of years off. There have been one or two ups and downs recently. Being stressed or undergoing big life changes seem to make me want to do it. When things are settled the compulsion ebbs. Certainly as a child I found rocking addictive, something others have mentioned here. As I've got older, my busy life prevents me thinking about it. I don't know where this comes from, but I have lots of pent up energy at times. I often grind my teeth whilst asleep and thrash my legs around in bed. Could these be linked? I don't know. All I can say is nobody here should feel ashamed as you're not alone and I don't think rocking hurts anyone. I agree with someone who said keeping busy makes you do it less, so if it is a problem, perhaps try some mentally and physically taxing things. Best wishes to all of you here.

[darkstrider0016]

Rocking is something that is done in the mothers womb before you are born.  It is why a lot of parents are told to cradle their infants when they hold them and kind of sway them side to side.  I am 17 so younger then everyone else.  But rocking helped me get through my young age.  And I did it as well with music.  So I can say to you from experience as well as I am learning for my hobby about the brain as well as disorders for it... Because I want to help people and start an organization.  But the fact that it calms you is as far as I know because it is something natural.  Some people say they can memorize things faster when they rock, others say they get more focused..Most I talk to are like me and say they do it with music to calm their nerves.  I am a straight B student.  I do well on tests. Not so much on homework as I have my mother and father by culture I need to take care of.  

[JGF25]

I'm guessing that you saw a general doctor and not a psychologist?  I don't think that it is fair to say there is no treatment for it especially to a child.  You didn't say how old she was but I'm guessing teenager.  I think it is worth seeing a psychologist to learn cognitive behavioral therapy.  

As you said, it is stress related and body rocking does help her relieve the stress she is feeling.  She is sensitive to it because she more than likely doesn't understand why she has to do it and doesn't know how to make it stop.  I think saying "there is no treatment" just makes her more stressed especially since you are right, she just wants to be "normal" and fit in.  Does she do it in public or does she have a measure of control over it?  

I rocked myself to sleep for a number of years and it was violent.  It drove my three sisters who had to share a room with me crazy.  At some point it stopped but I do have OCD and my stress shows up in this form now.  

You are a caring parent and I think you need to reassure her that you can find help for this.  Make an appointment.  And show her the following video.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tr7_T_M0g4

Did you know that Bill Gates rocks?  He rocked his way through a hearing that obviously had him stressed.  I think when she sees someone like this having the same problem she will feel a bit better.  There is help out there and I'm mad that a doctor would say this.  If it was a psychologist, then find another one, and another one until you find one that says they can help.  

Let me know how it goes and take care.