AIBU to ask whether constant mental chatter is normal?

I've got adhd, it's not just constant chatter for me or a song playing on loop it's like I've got 50 tabs in my brain open and it rapidly cycles through them relentlessly. If I try to concentrate on something it's difficult as my brain will quickly drift away to the chatter. If I'm having a conversation with someone and they've been talking awhile il realise I've drifted away to my own thoughts and have no idea what they just said. Or if it's an engaging convo my brain will quickly think of something relatable that's happened to me and I have to bite my tongue to stop myself butting in.

Mine is like this
I describe it as having too many tabs open
Its always words and music, never images
Negative for ADHD but I have CPTSD, ,there are some overlapping symptoms!

Yes. I can be watching TV, in a meeting etc then realise I have no idea what's been said for a couple of minutes as my brain has been running non-stop.
I have to work with music on to try and keep my thoughts on track. I hate silence.

Yes I talk to myself almost all the time “at rest”. I very often wake up with a song in my head. I don’t have adhd I don’t think, but I do have some traits so maybe this is just one of them. It got noticeably better when I gave up gluten which wasn’t the reason I gave it up, but was a welcome side effect.

I have a constant stream of thought with music. Sometimes the music is so loud it is actually distressing. Awaiting ADHD and autism assessment. One of my guides was medicated recently and told me it was so quiet in her head that she completed her work 3 hours quicker. The struggle is real.

Yes. I do have ADHD. If you’d asked me 2 years
ago if i have ADHD, I would have said ‘definitely not’. (DC2 got diagnosed and offered me an an appointment with a very short wait because I think she could see I was an obvious case and needed help).

Yeah pretty normal

Constant conversation in mine, quite often arguments, I'm NT as far as I know.
My dm often sees my lips moving and asks me who I'm talking to

No. My mind is quiet. Very little going on up there! Never get any music, pictures just popping up.

Also, if i close my eyes and try to imaging a red apple, the sea or a face (or anything else) I cant see it. Nothing.

Yep. It's constant. Before bed it's worse as nothing else to concentrate on. Isn't that literally the point of meditation? To quiet the inner voice?

I also have OCD ruminations to contend with as well-fun times!

It's always going on in my head. Songs, an ongoing back and forth conversation with myself, worries, and sometimes another background song underneath. I can't switch it off and I struggle to get off to sleep because of it, usually awake til 2-3am regardless of what time I got up or whether I napped during the day. I'm diagnosed autistic.

Me too, I once asked my husband what goes through his head, and he said he has no constant inner voice and can simply think of nothing, I was astonished… I thought everyone was like me. My head is like some kind of chaotic jungle!!!!

Yeah that’s my brain. Mostly at 3am. NT as far as I know.

Me too! The only time I went for a massage at a spa I found it totally not relaxing because my brain was doing exactly that 😭

Also I find, that despite my busy mind, I need lots of slow processing. So I cant stand tv that moves too quickly, I cant follow it, to much flitting around from picture to picture and clip to clip.

Yes I have to watch programmes over and over. I only really watch documentaries and re play them several times or I dont know whats being said!!

A TV licence is great value in my house!!!

Same. Pretty sure I don't have ADHD.
The songs are annoying as it's usually one or two lines on repeat, sung in my own voice and slightly out of tune.

That's me too! Takes me ages to watch a one hour programme as I keep having to rewind because my mind has zipped elsewhere with lists, conversations, and more lists, it's far to busy to just watch. Rarely music though. I hate watching YouTube on how to fix a blind or whatever.

Ah on further reading it seems that chronic pain and dissociation can mean that you don’t experience this.

i don’t experience this and never have to my memory but I have had chronic pain since an early teen which is over 40 years now.

the chronic pain has definitely had an impact on my memory and I’ve got a MH diagnosis now aswell due to the impact on my brain.

I have a silent mind except I can sort of hear what I’m saying/thinking but only one “voice” and that’s me.

very few pictures.

it’s always been that way.

Yes - same here. He always has radio / TV on - not happy with silence like me. He sorted our thermostat the other day by watching a Youtube video. I have to be in the mood to watch TV and actively have to WANT to watch something. I don't like background noise / stuff

I have arguments with mine, it’s exhausting.

Yes, my brain never shuts up. I don’t have ADHD.

Mine does this too- it’s normal