Marie

the first thing i want to say is PLEASE don’t list the names of songs you get stuck in your head!! pattio, if you can remove where you said the name of the song you had from your post above, it would be good. i had that same song too. there’s something about certain songs, and just reading the names of them can trigger it. it’s been extremely difficult for me to research this topic on the net, because in every article or forum topic people just have to list the names of the songs they get stuck with! and this is the last thing i need.

i’m male, mid-forties. i remember the first time i got a song stuck for a really long time, like nearly a year, when i was around 15 years old. it comes and goes, but for the last couple of years it’s been really bad for me. i think it must be related to stress, because my stress has been quite high in that period. also i seem to have a case of fairly severe depression. i often think if killing myself these days, although i don’t think i’d actually do it. i don’t know how much that’s a cause or a result of the songs. probably it’s interactive, in other words, i get worked up about difficulties in my life, i worry a lot, that causes the songs to be louder, which just gets me more irritated. a sort of spiral of increasing worry and anxiety.

the songs are definitely stronger at different times of the day. it’s there already when i wake up; i think it must actually be playing when i’m asleep. it’s worst in the afternoon i think.

i try to listen to music that is mostly just “noise music”, a lot of distorted guitars, etc., that sometimes helps wash it away. sometimes if a particular song really starts getting to me, i purposely start singing one other song that i had stuck the worst ever, on and off for almost two years. by now that song has actually lost some of its sticking power, but it’s enough that it can drive out some other ones, and then sort of fade away.

i don’t know what else to do. i try to just relax, but i don’t really know how to do that. every time i try, i just get anxious because i think i should be doing some work, that i don’t have time for this. i just think about all the things i’m supposed to be getting done.

anway, i hope this helps. to be honest i don’t put a lot of faith in simple explanations, like it’s caused by too much cortisol or something. i just have the feeling it’s more complicated than that, and also that it’s just the way i am, that’s the way my brain works. i’ve read that people who are worriers, and who are musically inclined, are the most succeptible and that fits me to a T. i don’t think you change that by taking some pills or supplements.

on the other hand i do think reducing stress, anxiety, and depression could certainly improve my situation. i just wish i knew how to do that. i’ve tried a bit of meditation and so on, but it just doesn’t work for me, i just can’t get into it.

The young mom just realized that her music seems to stop when she’s working out intensely (run 2 miles then do weights). Her trainer thinks it’s the breathing, so I’ve asked her to try deep breathing exercises when she’s not working out…and possibly to try oxygen to see if that might be the key for her. Since she says the music starts as soon as she gets in the car and turns on the radio, it may just be that the workout distracts her from it (tho no amount of exercise was able to block mine out at its worst).

So that’s just one more piece of the puzzle.

I’ve suspected all along that this is a multi-stage problem, and that there may be initiating conditions that make our brains ripe for this to happen, then other conditions that actually flip the switch.

For me it was something that happened when my hormones crashed prior to menopause. The puzzling thing all along for me has been why stress and high cortisol would suddenly start this crazy music playing in my head when I know I have been super-stressed earlier in my life and this never happened.

I may be able to control my broken record by reducing cortisol now because I can also manipulate my replacement hormones, whereas younger people can’t really lower their progesterone or keep it from converting into cortisol…if that even is relevant to their experience with this thing.

I’m sure cortisol is only a part of the problem even for me. And I continue to seek out sympathetic and knowledgable researchers who might be able to shed some light on this. I offer myself as a guinea pig, since I’m the only sufferer I know of who can turn this phenomenon on and off.

If you are a brain researcher or know of one who is interested in helping, please email me at hormonebook(at)yahoo.com.

And if you are a sufferer and find ANYTHING that causes the music in your head to change one way or the other, please let me know. Your experience may hold a clue for the rest of us.

Pat

For three years prior to that I was in a bad relationship etc. I developed tendency to think about what to say to my girlfriend and how to reply to her reply; considering all possible replies. i.e. premeditate what I say and they say. Then I started to do similar thing to all others I associate with including people I have philosophical discussions with. It was really mentally straining. Then when I became single and learnt to think simply again, this symptom started.

I am uni student but know nothing about hormone names; but maybe my brain got used to be over-loaded so if not, starting doing its own thing. In fact, when I talk to my friends in my head or I study (if I can concentrate strong enough to overcome the music in my head), the music thingy doesn’t bother me.

Recently, I can not really concentrate even to talk to someone though. My main concern is development to Music Hallucination or Schitzo although that’s never the case according to what I heard/read; must be different chemical or part of the brain.

Few interesting points:
When I have headache/migraine/ hay fever on RIGHT BRAIN this gets totally out of control, not letting me go to sleep. I put a movie DVD that has a lot of conversation to distract me from the music.

During November 08 exam, I slept at 10:30pm (usually 12:00), and didn’t listen to any music, then this music thing didn’t bother me, confirming my thing about straining on the brain. However, this was not true for the June 08 exam probably because my sleep was pretty bad. So sleep might be one of the essential in combating this.

Putting plenty of echoes/reverb to music when listening eases this syndrome. Also better to have distance from speaker. i.e. ear phone, speaker on laptop is bad.

I sometimes wake up because the music is so loud; interestingly though, in the middle of a song. This seems to indicate during my sleep, brain is still keep playing the music. This could be bad. Does my right brain ever have rest?

Also, when you are trying to sleep, try to bring your consciousness furthest possible from the right brain, or concentrate on sound surrounding you and think about story behind all those sound. E.g. car tyre sound- family trip- your childhood. Anything that has nothing to do with music will do. Hope this makes sense…

There are a few more points but that’s all for now. Wish you best

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It starts when I get up in the morning when my mind is at rest and doesn’t leave me until I start interacting with other people. The moment my mind is at rest, it starts over again.

It’s very hard to get rid of. I try to stop the music by ending the song but it just starts over and over again.

I feel it is a form of worrying about something you are living in your life. Perhaps even a defence mechanism for a fear of something or another.

I really don’t have any answers… but I am stuck with the problem.

Claude