To ask if anyone else constantly has music running in their head?

[Mypremiumwhat]

I have music running constantly in my head all the time for as long as I can remember. It's normally there in the background like a low barely noticeable hum, but sometimes it becomes louder and more fucking annoying apparent. It's there regardless of what I'm doing, whether I'm watching tv, having a conversation, working, and the only time I can't (mentally) hear it is when I'm meditating or actually listening to music in real life.

Song changes are triggered by things I see, or words/phrases that I read or hear, and the music can be anything from songs I love, to songs I hate, to annoying jingles, to random instrumental music. One particular tune that gets stuck in my head regularly is the song that a toy telephone belonging to a girl I babysat 20 years ago used to play

I don't suffer from anxiety or any other mental health condition, and have no history of adhd or anything like that. But still the music persists. It doesn't bother me too much on a day-to-day basis but sometimes the songs turn into earworms and become infuriating. I never really paid much attention to it before, but read someone asking a similar question on another forum a while back and realised that it actually doesn't happen to everyone, and I've been very conscious of it since.

Is there any way of stopping it??

[FrankensteinIsTheMonster]

@sadpapercourtesan

I have this, and over the past 6 months or so it has ramped up to the point it's seriously upsetting me, keeping me awake, it drives me mad. It's not usually music for me, it's the same tones, octaves apart, running through my head over and over again. Sometimes it's short snatches of songs which I can't get rid of, but the octave thing is CONSTANT otherwise. I have no idea what it is or how to get rid of it

I have CPTSD (diagnosed) and almost certainly autism (not diagnosed because my GP told me there was no diagnostic pathway for adults in Devon, but there isn't much doubt)

That doctor is talking bullshit. Since the Autism Act 2009 pretty much everywhere in England has implemented a diagnostic pathway, and the few places that didn't can refer out of area.

From what I can make out, in Devon your GP should refer to this service:
www.dpt.nhs.uk/our-services/adult-autism-and-adhd/about

Unless you're in Plymouth, for some reason, in which case apparently the correct referral for the GP to make is to the CMHT.

[BabyPotato]

@Youngatheart00 FFS I'll have that in my head for the next five years now!

[Givemeabreakpls]

Yes I have one song in particular which I’ve had in my head for years, no exaggeration. It gets louder when I’m anxious I’ve noticed but generally it’s just quietly ticking along - I heard it described as stuck song syndrome? I have diagnosed GAD.

[Sunnidayz]

Lol, I had Video Games by Lana del Rey playing as I scrolled and saw this! Frequently have music playing if not the inner dialogue.

[SinisterBumFacedCat]

Yep, I have an “internal Walkman” which illustrates how long this has been going on! I thought everyone had this, when I’m really bored I use it for entertainment.

[RaiseTheBeastie]

Yes, nearly always.

Currently listening to Ain't No Mountain High Enough in my head at the same time as reading and typing.

I also not only hear it but sing along to it in my head sometimes at the same time as having a conversation or typing...they don't interfere with each other at all iyswim.

I'm also very easily led with external singing, humming or whistling which I have no conscious control over. Dh likes to amuse himself by setting me up - he'll quietly sing two lines of the most random song he can think of, within my earshot- and the first I'm aware is when I realise he's pissing himself laughing because I'm sat at my laptop singing the full version of Frosty the Snowman or I'm a Barbie Girl to myself 🙄

[SpringCrocus]

I did for so many years , non stop. I still can get triggered by an earworm but what stops it all for me is meditation. Headspace or Calm apps are a lifesaver!
Three years clear and free, today

[fairynick]

Wait you’re telling me not everyone constantly has a song stuck in their head!?

[chatw00]

It's not constant but is still fairly frequent. Can be something I've heard in a shop, or something I've "self selected"! Or sometimes have music as background in a dream.

I had the same song going around for a couple of days, last week...but now I can't even get what it was (different problem there!).

[Tunnocksmallow]

I was trying to explain this to a work colleague the other day. One part of my brain is a constant jukebox. I wake up with a tune going around and around in my brain, and then it will just flip to something random, and so on throughout the day. And then the rest of my brain is like either me talking to myself, or me running through conversations again, etc. It’s constantly going. It can be exhausting. I do has anxiety and depression and am on medication but it doesn’t stop.

[Nat6999]

I do, I'm autistic & constantly have some tune or another in my head, today it's You're in the army now by Status Quo. Only because I picked an 80's playlist on my streaming service & this was one of the songs, last week was Loaded by Deacon Blue.

[JuicyOranges]

For some reason I get Sing Hosanna (learned in primary school and not heard it for hears) Then if I'm not careful I find myself replaying bits of recent/potential conversations in the sing hosanna tune.
I am quite glad to find that I'm not a rare beast.

[MrsBennetsnerves]

I thought this happened to everyone. I wake up with tunes running though my head quite often. The one advantage is that I'm good at learning a tune by ear if I want to play it. The rest of the time it can get annoying.

[mammmamia]

I have this and also thought everyone had it but my DH definitely doesn’t. I thought it was maybe if you’re quite musical. My DC definitely have it, we sometimes ask each other “what song do you have in your head right now” and then have a good singalong

[Anycrispsleft]

I do. I quite like it. My brain tends to suggest music appropriate to the situation, so like yesterday I was talking to my OH about what it must be like in the City these days and then my brain starts quietly playing Ghost Town by the Specials

[Youngatheart00]

@BabyPotato sorry

Fa la la la la la la, trol lol lo lo lo lo lo lo la laaaaaa!

[NeedNewKnees]

A good third of the time it’s been part of the Hamilton soundtrack for the last four years. (Damn Lin-Manuel, his songs are so catchy!)

Currently a Ben Folds song with a very fiddly piano bit.

[sadpapercourtesan]

@Faircastle yes, the same note in different octaves. It's incredibly intrusive and makes me panic sometimes.

@FrankensteinIsTheMonster thank you for that! I have a different GP now so I'm going to go back and ask again. I know some people think it's unnecessary but it would actually be a huge load off my mind to have that concrete explanation.

[FrankensteinIsTheMonster]

Expect a long wait, unfortunately, sadpapercourtesan… tho I suspect you're quite familiar with the inadequacies of services 😂

[CuriousaboutSamphire]

Ooh! WHo metioned hymns...

I had to listen carefully to hear whose version I had in my head. Turns out it was this

[mammmamia]

@Anycrispsleft

I do. I quite like it. My brain tends to suggest music appropriate to the situation, so like yesterday I was talking to my OH about what it must be like in the City these days and then my brain starts quietly playing Ghost Town by the Specials

Love this - that’s exactly how you brain works too
I quite like it - it’s like my own personal Spotify

[mammmamia]

*my brain

[Bearnecessity]

Often...got Ben Howard's End of the affair today.....

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

I'm now feeling as though I've got off relatively lightly with a brain that plays hymn tunes

I get this. Thing is, I am an atheist and never go to church. But I still get bloody hymns.