Intrusive noises?

[jiffnon]

Does anybody else get this? I experience music looping in my head 24/7, but often I will conjure up a very loud, distorted noise in my head. This could be a quick blast of somebody shouting, or it could simply be a short, amplified loop from a song I already know. I then tend to freak out and get it stuck in my head and it's extremely overwhelming and almost as if I can FEEL it in my head, even though it's not a hallucination.

I'm on my 5th week of Zoloft (aka Sertraline) 50mg. It kept it at bay for the first two weeks but it now seems to be making a return and it's positively horrid.

Am I alone? Is this an OCD symptom? I'm diagnosed GAD with likely OCD but nothing else as of yet.

[Ryker]

As long as it's not Chris de Burgh you get in your head I suppose it could be interesting.

What you're conscious of is something called the phonological loop.

The way your brain ( and everyone else's ) works is to take in audio input and loop it round and round so it can be properly sampled and stored. Some people are able to sense it going on. You can spot it in children often with them mouthing quietly to themselves what they've heard until it sinks in.

Your anxiety is sending the wrong messages back to the brain about it and that makes it worse. Just relaxing and concentrating on some other stimuli will probably deal with it but in severe cases or if it persists your doc will want to know I'm sure.

It's a bit different but I have synesthesia and I 'see' tastes and smells and sounds. That's weird too.

Human brains are a real bodge-Job with this conscious bit causing the trouble only afew hundred thousand years old.

It's got some learning to do.

In stead of freaking out practice relaxation and try not to re-rehearse the sounds. They'll fade away im sure.

[zexton]

I find myself repeating the same number in my head sometimes while suffering an attack-its really weird. I guess everyones journey is different. Im glad I found this forum

[Ryker]

For me its often either names - long foreign names or taxonomic species names that pop out of my distant memory and go round and round. It is a bit annoying but if I put some music on or read a book it goes away.

[willgetbetter89]

I can assure you this is OCD. I know because I went through the same thing. And I bring it down to being hypervigilent.. I have the song loop in my head as well. And what I found is at one stage of me being very conscious of this i was testing weather is was not only songs that were repeating, but any sound.. And surely not long after I put my self the exact same position as you..

I was aware of every sound around me.. although I am not obsessing about this anymore. I do completely understand. My advice is to pay no attention to at all, and slowly it will fade.

The songs are still there though.. I only hate them when I'm having bad anxiety