Stuck in my head...Help!
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 1,126
Stuck in my head...Help!
I know tinnititus is common after cessation of benzos, and I have it, but what about ear worms? The last song or jingle I hear gets stuck in my head. It could be the music playing in a convenience store, or the intro music to CNN (I now know them all by heart), but despite what I do they get stuck in my head, playing like a loop, and I can't stop them.
And it's not like just favorite tunes of mine are in the back of my head; the music that gets stuck can be a song I've never heard before, one playing in a taxi, and when I get out, that's the tune looping around in my head. It's getting to the point that even if I don't know it's happening, it happens.
Does anyone else have this? My shrink says it's just a sign of compulsive behavior, and I buy that, but man, it drives me crazy. It scares me.
The tinnititus I can handle, for some reason, but when does that go away? It's only in my right ear.
And the stuck music is pervasive. I've tried imagining that I reach into my brain and hit the stop button on a CD player, or, to age myself, lift the needle off an album player and toss the LP away like a Frisbee. That works -- for about 30 seconds. But if I'm not totally mentally engaged, reading or writing, the music is there. It even happens when I'm watching television or talking to someone. I find my foot bopping along to it!
I found information labeling it as "ear worms'' and not a sign of insanity, but man...it bugs the heck out of me. And I can readily distinguish it from hallucinations; it's not like I hear music "that isn't there,'' it's more like I manifest it as a thought.
And it's not like just favorite tunes of mine are in the back of my head; the music that gets stuck can be a song I've never heard before, one playing in a taxi, and when I get out, that's the tune looping around in my head. It's getting to the point that even if I don't know it's happening, it happens.
Does anyone else have this? My shrink says it's just a sign of compulsive behavior, and I buy that, but man, it drives me crazy. It scares me.
The tinnititus I can handle, for some reason, but when does that go away? It's only in my right ear.
And the stuck music is pervasive. I've tried imagining that I reach into my brain and hit the stop button on a CD player, or, to age myself, lift the needle off an album player and toss the LP away like a Frisbee. That works -- for about 30 seconds. But if I'm not totally mentally engaged, reading or writing, the music is there. It even happens when I'm watching television or talking to someone. I find my foot bopping along to it!
I found information labeling it as "ear worms'' and not a sign of insanity, but man...it bugs the heck out of me. And I can readily distinguish it from hallucinations; it's not like I hear music "that isn't there,'' it's more like I manifest it as a thought.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 167
I am not giving you medical advice nor does my opinion replace that of a "doctor" but:
I had this happen for about 6 weeks constant after quitting benzos cold turkey. It just stopped on its own.
The tinnitus I still have 24/7 and I am 5.5 months out.
I know people who still have tinnitus years after quitting benzos, everyone I know who had the looping music has said it stopped within 3 months.
You can find information relating to tinnitus here:
benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002
and here:
benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002
There are also the results of a big survey taken amongst benzo withdrawal patients which can be seen here:
Survey Contents Jun 2007
Of course this is just information and not a diagnosis, you have to make your own decisions based on what you think is right for you. Perhaps a ENT specialist could offer you a second opinion of your tinnitus, there are many causes.
Hope you feel better soon.
I had this happen for about 6 weeks constant after quitting benzos cold turkey. It just stopped on its own.
The tinnitus I still have 24/7 and I am 5.5 months out.
I know people who still have tinnitus years after quitting benzos, everyone I know who had the looping music has said it stopped within 3 months.
You can find information relating to tinnitus here:
benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002
and here:
benzo.org.uk : Benzodiazepines: How They Work & How to Withdraw, Prof C H Ashton DM, FRCP, 2002
There are also the results of a big survey taken amongst benzo withdrawal patients which can be seen here:
Survey Contents Jun 2007
Of course this is just information and not a diagnosis, you have to make your own decisions based on what you think is right for you. Perhaps a ENT specialist could offer you a second opinion of your tinnitus, there are many causes.
Hope you feel better soon.
Clever Yak
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: ---
Posts: 4,360
I thought that having a song stuck in your head happens to everybody... Lol. What works for me actually is quite the opposite of what Dee said. I listen to that song again, whether it be off youtube, or if I have it on my itunes, and then it goes away, it just becomes "unstuck" from my brain after I physically listen to it instead of listening to it as a though (if that makes any sense). Quite odd actually... haha. I guess it just depends on who you are. Good luck!
Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: New Orleans, LA/Charlotte, NC
Posts: 78
I have the same issue - songs, phrases, lists - all get stuck in my head on a maddening continuous loop (though I've been clean from benzos since I was like 17 and I'm 25 now, so I feel like that's unrelated). The problem for me is that once the song or phrase or list or whatever starts in my head, I can't stop until I've completed it. It really is very very annoying. I feel you on that. My doctor said the same thing about it potentially being related to obsessive compulsive type behaviors which seems about right. But yeah, it's absolutely maddening.
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,677
I had that happen after I quit injectable narcotics ten years ago. My current recovery, a month off now, is from oxycodone, and it hasn't occurred this time.
I only have a theory, and it is related to brain chemicals. Using substances like alcohol, cocaine, oxycontin, meth, whatever it is, pumps dopamine at higher than normal levels into the brain pleasure centers, creating the high. These high dopamine levels create more receptors sites to accommodate them, at the same time creating damage to what started out as normal neural pathways for pleasure.
When you stop your drug of choice, the brain's receptor site remain ready for stimulation, but it doesn't get them. It's kind of like someone being given thyroid hormone if they don't need it -- the thyroid just quits producing its own. You now lack the dopamine your brain wants, and you now need to give your body time to relearn how to make your own.
Because you now have damaged neural tracts to receive pleasure in that lovely dopamine cycle, and a greater number of receptors screaming to be fed, you feel like hell. No pleasure now! The damage has been done, but repair will occur if you don't throw the toxic drugs back into the system. If you do, you are right back up to your highest levels of use, even if you had tapered down to nothing. That's why addicts relapse to such high doses so quickly.
What you are experiencing with tinnitus and the song loops are brain things, nervous system things. Your brain chemicals are going haywire. They are all running into each other and you may experience lethargy, confusion, blurred vision, auditory hallucinations, tinnitus, those nasty song loops, etc, as your brain chemicals readjust.
They WILL readjust. The best thing you can do, without giving you medical advice, is to give your body the healthiest possible chance to recover. Water, lots of it, helps detoxification, vitamins in the form of fresh fruits, juice, vegetable, and healthy proteins. Lots of people gain weight in recovery, because good food, some say chocolate especially, stimulated dopamine production. Eating is often the only thing that brings pleasure -- for awhile. If you've lost weight as an addict, this is a good thing. If you are already heavy, you gotta watch out for this.
Also, music therapy may help you. Put music in your head that used to make you feel good, dance to it if you have the energy. Replace the nasty songs with better ones. They may come back, especially when you can't sleep at night. Some people use meditation tapes that use a combination of soft speech and music. Get the audio tape by Ekhart Tolle, A New Earth, read by him. He is very soothing, and his thoughts are very inspirational without being religious.
I hope this helps!
I only have a theory, and it is related to brain chemicals. Using substances like alcohol, cocaine, oxycontin, meth, whatever it is, pumps dopamine at higher than normal levels into the brain pleasure centers, creating the high. These high dopamine levels create more receptors sites to accommodate them, at the same time creating damage to what started out as normal neural pathways for pleasure.
When you stop your drug of choice, the brain's receptor site remain ready for stimulation, but it doesn't get them. It's kind of like someone being given thyroid hormone if they don't need it -- the thyroid just quits producing its own. You now lack the dopamine your brain wants, and you now need to give your body time to relearn how to make your own.
Because you now have damaged neural tracts to receive pleasure in that lovely dopamine cycle, and a greater number of receptors screaming to be fed, you feel like hell. No pleasure now! The damage has been done, but repair will occur if you don't throw the toxic drugs back into the system. If you do, you are right back up to your highest levels of use, even if you had tapered down to nothing. That's why addicts relapse to such high doses so quickly.
What you are experiencing with tinnitus and the song loops are brain things, nervous system things. Your brain chemicals are going haywire. They are all running into each other and you may experience lethargy, confusion, blurred vision, auditory hallucinations, tinnitus, those nasty song loops, etc, as your brain chemicals readjust.
They WILL readjust. The best thing you can do, without giving you medical advice, is to give your body the healthiest possible chance to recover. Water, lots of it, helps detoxification, vitamins in the form of fresh fruits, juice, vegetable, and healthy proteins. Lots of people gain weight in recovery, because good food, some say chocolate especially, stimulated dopamine production. Eating is often the only thing that brings pleasure -- for awhile. If you've lost weight as an addict, this is a good thing. If you are already heavy, you gotta watch out for this.
Also, music therapy may help you. Put music in your head that used to make you feel good, dance to it if you have the energy. Replace the nasty songs with better ones. They may come back, especially when you can't sleep at night. Some people use meditation tapes that use a combination of soft speech and music. Get the audio tape by Ekhart Tolle, A New Earth, read by him. He is very soothing, and his thoughts are very inspirational without being religious.
I hope this helps!
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