I really need to know whether anyone else has this problem. I knew my partner in a social context long before we got together and I never noticed anything odd about his behaviour. But his private persona seems so very different from the public persona.
The problem I have found most hard to cope with has been his jiggling and gesticulation. If he is sitting in an armchair (or at the table) his leg is constantly bouncing and if he is asked to stop, then the hand starts strumming. We have got over this to an extent as I emphasised to him how disturbing this was to me. It seemed really to do my head in, and made me not want to be any place where he was.
But although the jiggling is now less, a problem of gesticulation remains, which most particularly affects me when he is absolutely close up to my peripheral vision, driving the car, or in bed.
When driving a car he uses his right hand on the steering wheel whilst the left hand waves around pretty randomly with every point he is making - always close to my vision and often truly flashing across my face.
Lying bed beside me, much the same happens, although this is extra weird because, whichever side he is on, he always uses the arm and hand closest to me to make his gesticulations.
I have tried to get him to stop. It sounds like 'nagging' to him, of course, and I haven't felt able to tell him how serious this is for me. I've always known it's a real relationship killer. I just can't stay with someone who does this, but I feel if I actually said that, it would sound like a threat and I don't want to do that. So far he simply hasn't got the message and does this waving as much as he ever did
But now I am at my wits end. I feel really traumatised by this persistent flashing movement in the side of my vision. In a long recent trip on holiday it was especially relentless.
Right now, the waving and flashing keeps going on and on through my head and I can't stop it taking over any other thoughts. I was driving home on my own yesterday and the whole thing was going round and round in circles in my head - what can I do, how can I stop this happening etc. Several times I even found my hand waving by the side of my eye in the same way, as my mind rehearsed all the happenings and all the possible solutions.
In all other ways I'm a really stable person. I never thought I would have so-called 'mental health' problems. But with this trauma taking over my head it's clear that something is going badly wrong. I'm pretty desperate to know whether anyone else has experienced this sort of thing, how it affected you, and what you did about it.
Thank you for reading my long message.
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Relationships
Jiggling and gesticulation
Shezzer · 06/08/2022 10:34
PunishmentRoundupWithJoon · 06/08/2022 13:13
I totally understand why this is getting to you so much. I hate leg jiggling with a pasion and it's always men who do it. I will move tables in a cafe if a man starts doing it within my line of sight - can't imagine how stressful it must having to live with it! It may be, as someone suggested, it's to do with ADHD, and he can't help it, but that would indicate that you aren't a good match for each other.
If you've told him how distressing it is for you when he gesticulates right into your field of view and he's still doing it, it means he's not listening, or not taking you seriously.
I can't stand any repetititve movements in my line of sight - the female equivalent of leg jiggling is fiddling with hair. Again, if a women is doing this, constantly smoothing or twirling her her, I have to move, it gives me the rage.
Biggestjulie · 06/08/2022 14:41
Well, if you can’t manage it, you can’t manage it, and that’s the end of your relationship, full stop. Because I can assure you that he can’t help it, and it won’t stop however much you explain your feelings or nag your partner.
I jiggle my legs pretty much constantly (and I also do it in bed before I go to sleep) so the PP who said only men do this doesn’t know what she is talking about.
I know it drives people crazy, and I can stop if I am asked, but only as long as I focus all the time on NOT jiggling, which takes up so much headspace that it is difficult for me to enjoy or contribute to the conversation and fun. As soon as I go back to enjoying myself and engaging in a social event, etc., I go back to jiggling.
I know it is an issue at the theatre, at concerts, on airplanes and other public transportation, so I really try focus on keeping still in those circumstances, but it takes a lot of energy and mental effort and that means there is not much left over for anything else.
Speaking from the other side of this issue, I would not be able to maintain a relationship with someone who constantly demanded that I stop jiggling because of the amount of focus and mental energy it takes just to stop.
My close friends and family do sometimes draw attention to my jiggling, and ask me to stop (I am never aware of it until someone mentions it). This happens when I am driving them particularly crazy, and I do try (and usually succeed for a while). But basically people who care about me decide to live with it, as apparently my better qualities are enough compensation. You need to make a similar decision about your current “partner”.
BTW my brother does it too and we have other ND characteristics in common - left handed and probable ADHD, so I guess that is how we are made. Maybe you would be more sympathetic if you could think of it as a very minor disability, like an eye squint. If not, move on. It’s not helpful to nag him and, except occasionally, when it is particularly awkward, and he would probably appreciate a reminder and a heads up, it’s useless and unkind to try to challenge and change him.
User0610134049 · 06/08/2022 12:39
Sounds like you’ve got the ick….
Shezzer · 06/08/2022 11:39
OK thanks, so I would never have called this traumatising a few weeks/months ago - it was just annoying - but the impact seems to grow.
Like you I would try to keep his leg out of my line of sight, but you can't do that with a hand waving beside your eye.
You're right about the increased vigilance, but this doesn't need vigilance as it's so much 'in my face'.
Was this a factor in your break-up?
Prokupatuscrakedatus · 06/08/2022 12:47
Another reason why I keep myself to myself - my behaviour is called stimming and helps concentration and focus (to follow a conversation, movie, lecture) and reaching some semblance of inner calm.
But, of course, it is so difficult for parents, teachers, partners, friends, work mates to endure. So either I keep a ridgid hold on myself and all aspects (there are others) of the brain I was born with, which is incredibly stressful (+ I am so busy controlling myself that there is little room for anything else) or I keep myself to myself.
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