The Bipolar Brain – A Radio Station You Can’t Turn Off

Had song stuck syndrome for 4 months now. I'm going insane. It's horrible.
Since 2008 I've been on a steady regimen of luvox, klonopin, and lamotrigine for chronic depersonalization disorder (a rare dissociative condition) and had been doing fine until i took on a full time job with a crazy schedule. Due to my new symptoms i increased my luvox and lamotrigine but no decrease in symptoms. Thru my research ive found that lamotrigine can induce musical hallucinations but that's different from internal musical imagery (earworms). I'm not sure what the cause is. My therapist thinks the stress and lack of sleep from my job (which i have since left) caused this. Not sure what to do. I'm doing hypnosis weekly but not much is working. Today i had a pretty good day but after a nap ive had the same song on a loop for the last 8 hours. Anyone have any info please contact me.

Hello everyone,
I have been working on Psychoanalysis for 25 years and teaching for 12 years. Through all my life, I believed that this 'ecole' contains all the answers about any kind of mental problems. I do still believe...
As for my problems: I started to memorize some numbers, license plates, names, conversations and other things 3.5 years ago. Because of my scheduled life style, I had to skip long-term therapeutic process and started medical treatment. I took 100mg. Zoloft for two years and all symptoms dissapeared in the first 6 months successfully. I must say that the Sertraline is one of the most powerful tools for reducing anxiety.
After quiting pills -one year ago- this 'Stuck Song Syndrome' started. I just began to search some answers but I could not find any right suggestions.
I still have the same problem but not that effective. I don't have a spesific song. One song appears and then the other song generally dominates the first one. It is like a circle. I don't have any intention to take pills again.
Since 'anxiety' is not my major problem, I can face with these songs easily, like an observer from out of my mind. For the last two weeks, I managed to control those rhythms without trying to suppress them.
Here are some tips:
Whatever happens, please don't forget that the most harmful effect of the mind is anxiety. If you manage to reduce your anxiety, all musical effect 'slims down' automatically. If you defeat your anxiety, all musical symptoms lose their powers constantly. To defeat anxiety, put yourself in someone's place, someone who is healthy, who does not suffer with the same problem. Oberve people closer to you, see how they are careless about listening music, see how they go on with their life easily . A sharp identification with someone who does not have the same problem can really reduce the power of the song that stucks in your mind.
Second, jazz music; especially experimental or avant-garde jazz! It is really impossible to memorize any experimental Jazz music's partitions (if you are not a musician). When you listen that kind of music, the notes immediately transforms into an anti-virus that attacks the song stuck in your head. Use jazz as a spy for hunting the cheap song in your mind. Try 'Jazz Cure' not only once. You'll see the result after a couple of days.
There are some other interesting solutions, I'll keep on writing if you need to hear them.

What I hear in my mind is duh duh duh da du da duh.sometimes a song will last for a while but then it turns back to the rhythm

Hi Everyone
This is quite common and not so rare after all. I understand that the constant earworms can be a warning/distraction from the brain when going deeper into a depression and anxiety, letting you know that cortisol is too high, and serotonin too low. Then there are those like myself who have OCD (pure ''o'' OCD in my case).
I have to admit that yes, the music can be annoying but I am saddened that some people on here are so frustrated and tired of them that they are suicidal. I really hope that you find the help that you need and try to live best with the music.
Initially when i had this syndrome I was very scared and went very deeply into anxiety and depression! A month after taking an SSRI (Paxil) it had all stopped and i felt amazing. However, 4 years after my initial diagnosis and the music, it came back when I was experiencing high levels of stress in life. After being off the Paxil for 3 1/2 years, i went back on them - and they have always worked for me.
Besides meds though i think there are some solutions our there that will help. Mindfulness and meditation can work. What you resist persists and what you look straight at will disappear. You can focus straight on it when you meditate. ERP is exposure, response prevention:- take a bath or meditate, notice the music and if anxiety comes up let it be (if this does happen) getting stronger, and stronger - however do not allow the compulsions to enter, such as pushing the music out, repeating numbers or words over it, jumping out of the bath/mediation position to find a quick distraction - JUST BE WITH IT. Also, according to Seth (PhD in Psychology) he suggested the following to me: 'With that kind of “earworm,” we usually recommend doing the opposite of our first inclination. So instead of trying to make it go away, the person would try to make it stay! Sing it “full volume” in one’s head, try to keep it in mind, etc. Our minds tend to be rebellious, and generally what happens when we try to keep something in mind is that our minds wander to other things. All the best with this!''
Also, there are other natural treatments such as vitamin C to reduce cortisol, magnesium chelate to relax the mind, chamomile, lavendar to increase some serotonin. Inositol (vitamin B8) is amazing, please read the following article
https://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/articles-1/2017/7/10/integrative-therapies-for-obse…
Also, please read these articles as there are CBT and ERP for stuck music syndrome: -https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5461857/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4723199/
Importantly, see your GP/Mental Health Professional to talk about this. Talk therapy alone increases serotonin and makes you feel better.
I hope some of this helps

I am a manager in a place where I see thousands of people a day and communicate with them. I am bipolar and have been my entire life. However, I'm nearing 40 and I feel like I can almost control that entirely through force of will now. I can hold myself into a partial mania while retaining my ability to function in a somewhat organized way. I feel like I've almost gained the ability deal with every moment like it is completely new and like life has just started which makes me very good and moving with the flow of my job. No matter what pops up, I can take it in stride and move past it immediately most times. Almost like I've planned in it advance but the truth is that I just understand every situation every moment. Everything is utter chaos in my mind but because I've learned to harness it, I do really well with this.
Not to say I'm perfect, just highly functional. People regularly ask me how I can do things I do or who taught me to do things. I try to explain to them occasionally that I didn't know anything about whatever it was but that I can look at things/situations and see how it functions. I can speed read and I find that I have so much information stored in my head that literally everything I look at works in an obvious way and for an obvious reason. Honestly, the entire world seems like a dream but I know it is real at the same time.
Anyway, about the audio hallucinations. Mine isn't just music. I have conversations, lectures, and the like going on in my head too. It is mostly music, but it could be anything. A conversation I had when I was a little kid, something I saw in a movie, How It's Made episodes, or a song. Sometimes I am pretty sure it isn't something I've ever heard or said but an imaginary conversation/song or a dream that I've thought through at some point in my life.
These all seem real, they sound real in my head. I know they aren't currently real but they seem like they would have been. It is almost like I am having a dream while I am going through the day. They have a quality that makes them obviously not real.
I always have something in my head. Things can be displaced or changed pretty easily but I don't have complete control over that. I often hear the same song for a week or more depending. Whenever I am talking to people they will say a word or phrase and immediately, ask a question, or something to that effect and the song will start in my head.
Some of the people I work with know this is happening.
I whistle, sing, or twitch to a song almost constantly. The twitches/muscle/sniffs/clenches/spasms are the least noticeable and I'm not sure if the they are playing the song or a song plays to match the twitches.
My wife doesn't really care for music and doesn't want to hear the same song daily. The little girl we adopted is mildly autistic(undiagnosed) and has a similar musical ability/issue inside. We listen to music together a lot when my wife isn't there.
I usually don't have a problem with any of this. When I am giving in to my sullen and dark side or raged out, the music isn't exactly helpful though. The conversations and stores turn bitter and angry. I've gotten good at pushing them aside now for the most part. I find a lot of caffeine, hobbies, and reading help refocus my mind. I spend most of my life in a somewhat manageable mania now.
I woke up to a song I've had in my head for a few days. "Pinned Down" by Rebel Son. Terrible song but it is what is there. I found this site looking to read about my audio hallucinations.

I've suffered this symptom since I moved to a new country and lost my job, my life savings, family, friends and culture. It has been 4 years of full stress and always songs playing in my brain. I have no idea yet about my diagnostic, but with no permanent job and a family to feed and support, there is no time, desire and money to find out about it. I just pray to keep conscious enough to look normal to my children and wife.
Thanks for the article, it's interesting.

Bi polor mania all my life. Just in the last year developed a ear worm. It's driving me insane.

24/7 365 i have a bar or 2 of a song repeating in my head. and i have layers of thoughts on top of that, its like if you were playing a excerpt of a song on repeat,a talkshow, and somebody talkindown to you, plus your inner voice. i want to kill myself just for a moment of silence.

I have suffered with INMI (Intrusive Musical Imagery) for 50 years and have finally accepted that I can never be rid of this devastating condition. The best I can hope for is to be able to manage this on a daily basis so that at least my life is reasonably bearable.
One of the most frustrating things for me has been the difficulty of trying to explain my symptoms to other people (usually so called professionals), and it is almost impossible to articulate to others just how utterly relentless and debilitating this condition can be. One of the main reasons for this is that we are all unique human beings and, of course, experience things in completely different ways. I am thoroughly tired of 'professionals' telling me that they understand what I'm going through when that is patently impossible.
Anyway the main reason for this comment is to include a copy of an article that was written about 3 years ago in a national newspaper. It was submitted by a gentleman who suffers with INMI and it is one of the best pieces I have read on the subject. It is uncanny (to me anyway) how similar his symptoms mirror my own...........
"Have you ever found yourself with a piece of music stuck in your head for what feels like hours, or maybe even days? Perhaps a chorus, a catchy line, maybe a whole verse? If so, you probably didn’t find it too bothersome. These “earworms” are a natural byproduct of listening to music.
I experience a significantly amplified version of this strange beast. They can only be described as severe earworms bordering on musical hallucinations. I have a song looping in my head from the moment I wake until the moment I drift off to sleep – with absolutely no let-up in between. The earworm usually takes the form of one or two bars from a familiar song repeating incessantly, until another one finally pops into my head to replace it. It’s a neverending cycle. The source is often the last thing I heard on TV or simply the last piece of music I happened to think of. It’s easily triggered: something as innocuous as overhearing the word “groove” can set off the chorus to Earth, Wind & Fire’s Let’s Groove. It can often take me a minute or two just to realise its origin.
Yesterday, I had Slayer’s Piece By Piece looping in my head. Right now, it’s the Carly Rae Jepsen song I Really Like You. Unfortunately, there’s no clear medical explanation for my chronic condition – beyond murmurings of OCD and “auditory imagery loops”. I’ve realised that “earworm” is too meagre a term to describe this hellish affliction. Ear kraken or cochlea wolf would be more apt.
I believe the condition grew from an anxiety disorder that cropped up last summer. I’d had minor health anxieties as a teenager, but the fear this new bout caused me was so all-consuming that I spent the rest of 2014 feeling on the edge of psychosis. Jumping to such wild conclusions seems ignorant in hindsight, but rationality and anxiety do not go hand in hand.
My concerns have since died down considerably. Now, on the rare days when I feel like a well-adjusted and useful member of society, the compulsion to focus on the looping dissipates, and I’m able to go about my business uninterrupted. But when I’m at my worst, the music can still swell to an uncomfortable volume and send me into the most unpleasant spiral of obsession imaginable. There was a point towards the end of last year when I had The Who’s My Generation stuck in my head. Roger Daltrey’s “My generation!” refrain got louder and louder until it reached an impossible point of distortion that absolutely terrified me.
During conversations I will often zone out, the music looping in my head taking all my concentration. I’m basically a write-off when it comes to anything like instructions or directions. This has put a considerable dent in the love I once had for my hobbies. I used to adore cinema as much as I do music, but my ability to fully immerse myself within it has been seriously hindered. The next time you watch a film like the austere samurai revenger’s tragedy Hara-Kiri, try to imagine the chorus to Blue’s All Rise repeating on a low volume throughout – then you will understand my problem. It completely punctures any tension or atmosphere, and makes absorbing dialogue an absolute nightmare. Matthew McConaughey’s musings on the intricacies of space travel were practically white noise by the time I’d made it to the end of Interstellar. My mind feels perpetually clogged, as if at a permanent standstill. Cohesive, fully realised thoughts rarely manage to stumble their way through the fog.
There are a few minor advantages to all of this, especially when it comes to composing (I’m able to pluck melodies out of nowhere). But there’s still something painful about suffering from a symptom that seems so abstract and minor from the outside. I started a course of anxiety inhibitors, SSRIs, towards the end of last year in an attempt to curb the problem and, although they’ve managed to quell the surrounding anxiety, the song remains the same and shows no sign of stopping. It’s a horrid nuisance but I’ve gradually taught myself to accept the condition as permanent. Now all I have to do is learn how to live with it."

I hear them 24 hours a day. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and there they are. All day at work, too. I'll be in the middle of a conversation and I start singing the song in my head. It just doesn't stop. So very annoying. I literally want to tear my head off to get it to stop.

Hi All,
I started to have this happen for the past five months or so, it's very manageable/absent now. Just realize your emotional response to any thought gives it meaning and that meaning makes it stick around. Your brain feels like it needs to keep bringing something back to help you solve it. Your cortex brings back the thought, but the limbic system brings back the negative emotion and overpowers any ability to rationalize. You feel what you focus on, if you take away the negative feelings associated with music stuck in your head it will dissipate over time. Worrying creates problems, not solves them.

I hear music 24/7. Sometimes it's a chorus, or a verse, and sometimes it's a full song. Sometimes the songs repeat for hours, sometimes they change by the minute. But it's usually songs I like or would listen to. It feels like background music in my head, because it doesn't affect my focus, but at any point in time I can give you the song, artist, and lyric playing in my head. It's really weird and idk if it's because I love music so much, or if it's my bipolar.

Hello,
Almost everyone on the face of the earth has these. The more you hyper focus on them, the worse they will be. I highly suggest that others who struggle with anxiety, depression, bi polar, or other mental illnesses try to give themselves compassion by speaking positivity into themselves. Remember your value. Have grace for yourself. Take deep breaths and practice healthy self care. Most importantly, remember you are not alone. The mind is powerful. Let it be what it is.... uniquely yours.

First of all im an aspiring DJ, when i started to develop my psychosis the same things happened, a lot of what i went through started as MES or Earworms and i started to get suicidal over it, somedays id use it as a good work tool to get things done, but it got worse to the point i couldnt beat my mind unless i concentrated on it all day and the next day it would start up again. If u get to the point u literally cant deal with it and u feel like a constant turmoil setting in run to a doctor. Make sure hallucinations dont start to occur and that u dont get so angry or suspicious of things from thoughts that are repetitive and untrue because u cant think clear. If you cant sleep u could go into fight or flight mode like i did and it could consume u and u wont be able to eat properly. It will use up all your energy and your brain will always feel hot if ur on the verge of pshycosis plus depression and anxiety or nausea could also be present at the same time if u have psychosis. I take Olanzapine witch helps a little but ive developed an eating disorder from all the weight i gained and im trying to lose weight now so i take days off of medication sometimes and eat less. After a few days off meds the first symptoms to come back are earworms that start to get worse like ringing in ears. Ive also done dmt in my life and i think it helped me since everything got so loud like a buzzing sounds to the point where i couldnt handle it then it shut off all sounds in my head and when silent this was way before i developed psychosis so i believe it may be a way of identifying someone with psychosis or schizophrenic tendancies before they develop. I believe people like me with near schizophrenic brains might be able to benefit with a treatment of ayahuasca everyonce in a while and theres already a few studies on it.

Interesting that I found this site. For some reason, earworms sounds like you are hearing this from your ears. I'm thinking auditory hallucinations sounds better. It's embedded in my brain, not my ears. Looping music the entire day....stupid songs at that. It never goes away. Never. I'm on seroquel for it, but my tolerance for drugs is very low, so I can only handle a half dose. It quiets it down to a lower volume, but it's still there all during my waking hours. Looping, looping, looping on the same line...I'm bipolar 2 with PTSD. And unfortunately had a public anxiety attack the other day...embarrassing. Can't stand opera, little angry fairies dancing in my head. Can't tolerate chewing gum either - another irritating trigger. I'll be seeing a different therapist soon...meds are Fluoxetine, Seroquel & Kolonopin. I won't mention the looping song - or rather line I have in my head right now.....no one else needs to be stuck with it too! Thanks for this forum!

Thank you.
Stumbled upon this topic quite accidentally in a moment of BiPolar desperation and tears. But have no fear; I have always preferred to cycle ultra-rapidly; sure the highs and lows are more condensed, but most of the time it keeps me in a relatively safe state between detesting my very existence and wondering why I haven't been put in charge of, well, everything.
For me, it never stops. ever. "Stop grinding your teeth Mike." says the voice in my head whilst I am busy thinking about the current task at hand happens to often to count. In addition to my odd ball internal sound track, my brain likes to grind my teeth in time to the music. Obviously this tends to be counter-productive to my teeth, but I am also blessed with Arthritis mutilans; so every joint, every muscle, every tendon, every physical connection is crushed under the swelling pressure and eventually damaged beyond repair or replacement. It is constant pain all the time. My mind tortures my body and I don't really get a say in it. But hey, I still got my health.
avoiding treatment since '87, if it wasn't for laughing, I'd be crying.

I just finally googled this because it is driving me mad. I have been diagnosed with bipolar,the one you don the even get the euphoria from! I constantly have songs in my head,it's an endless loop,from whatever I hear outside,like in a store,or jingles on the tv will stick for days,even my breathing will start to make a rhythm like I'm constantly whistling. This isn't like occasionally when you get a song stuck for awhile,it's 24 /7 I wake up with it,and while driving I'll just yell STOP
and try to clear my mind and it lasts for like 30 seconds with effort. i thought maybe it's my meds since it has worsened. What is the treatment for this because I'm to the point I can't take it. You know they torture people by playing constant music or tapes. I'm at my wits end.

I wake up every single day with multiple songs playing in my head. It's switches back and forth sorting between them all. It's some songs I like and some I've grown to become quite annoyed by. It continues throughout the day up until I go to sleep. It's like I don't even have to listen to the actual songs they sound so clear. Sometimes if I play the song it does go away but other times it makes it worse! These worms have also caused to me dislike certain songs so much I forever way to hear them played again. I really wish I knew why this happened. Like if I could just get my brain to shut the music off that would be great.

Electronic harrassment.

is there anybody who found solution to constant music in head? I am suicidal. For 6 years I tried every drug and supplement. It is getting worse. Please help.

omg this is my life to. ive had these constant loops in my head since i was about 15 years old, right when i was developing the symptoms inwould later recognize as a myriad of mental health issues including OCD & Bipolar

I'm of 17 and experincing this weird stuff fo 2 years im telling this thing troubled me a lot esp during my high school its the worst experince of my life but New my illness has shown a great upliftment im telling my phycatarist has told me that just forgot your studies a and lot your brain take some rest this was the only situation in my life in which there was nothing in my Jan but only i have to belive in my medication and time it really test my patience

I've read every post, and I have copied and pasted into a new document every single suggestion that one of you has made, and will look at the books and websites you have mentioned. The only thing that I can add is at one point I used inositol powder regularly, about 1 heaping tablespoon a day in herbal tea. It has a mild sweet taste. But I am not a doctor and you must research this on your own. After doing this for some time the songs went away. Inositol is a natural supplement that is often used to treat OCD. Look it up on Amazon, do a search for OCD in the reviews. It's been years since I've done that and it's all back again, and I have severe anxiety, an overactive brain, OCD, and PSTD. Today I'm going to make an appointment with a therapist for cognitive behavioral therapy. I want to fix this at the source, which I 100% believe is anxiety. I don't want to have to take something for it, I want to stop the anxiety, which hurts the body and brain in every way possible.

It's rare if get any song stuck in my head and if i do it last an hour at most, and that is because i already have a playlist playing at the same time.
The moment i open my eyes there is a song already playing in my head, it could be a song i heard the day before o just a random one, it's entertaining in the morning while im getting dress but it was annoying when i was at school and had to shut up myself to play attention on class and concentrate a lot to mute it for a while but until without noticing is already there.
If im thinking, the song is on the backgroung like a movie soundtrack, some friends randomly ask: what song is on right now? And i can say the song and sing outloud what part of the song is in automatically.
I don't know anyone with that problem, except maybe my dad that have something similar, so reading all the comment her make me feel better knowing that im alone in this radio ON thing.

My reoccurring problem in my head is part of a nursery rhyme. I can feel it coming on and have to take a seat. My whole face becomes flush and I have labored breathing. I feel as if I'm going insane. At the same time it seems to relieve my body of a lot of anxiety after it happens. This happens about once every three to five years. I have been reading articles of what this condition is labeled, but it it just doesn't fit my whole description. Especially with the face going flush and the breathing becomes labored. I literally stayed home from work today. Because I deal with customers and didn't want to have this happen in front of any of them. I don't know whether to go to the doctor about it or not.

I have similar problem. But music is not constant. Not different songs. One song plays when I wake up then it pops up , not plays constantly but pops up when I talk to others or do something. It only does not happen when I am typing, watching something . Song may pop up fir 1 day or several days. Sometimes it may be more than one song. So is my problem similar to people here or different because music is not constant. Please reply someone . I am literally going crazy.

Radio station that will not stop is a great way of putting it. I have always LOVED music and have an extensive music library of just about any type of music except opera and rap. No my music has turned on me. I can't listen to my personal library or even to the radio in my car for over 2 years now because I can't stop the music. I wake up several times a night and most every time there is a different song playing in my head. Sometimes it is the same song it it has a really catchy tune but most of the time it is just random songs. I can wake up after a couple of hours of semi-sleep and my head will be singing Send in the Clowns, then a couple of hours later I wake up with Signs, then a couple hours later it will be Simple Kind of Man and on and on. I'm glad to find out there are others with this affliction but I would LOVE to find a way to make it stop so maybe I can start listening to music again. I really miss my music!

Hi I also suffer from this condition I think Iv had this same song just literally couple of words stuck in my head and it has been driving me crazy since I can remember I am 22 years of age now and still suffer from this on a day to day basis. I honestly though I was the only one that suffered from this terrible ‘thing’ it’s hard because I grit my teeth together at the same time or just after which is slightly worrying Iv never been to the doctors re this as I was always fearing the worst. I am so glad I have people in common with the same condition brings me a bit of peace I guess. Take it easy everyone x

I was diagnosed bipolar approximately 3 years ago. The constant show tunes and upbeat music never stops; it keeps me up all night sometimes. What’s even worse is I sometimes count numbers in the place of lyrics, but rhymically on time. In addition to the slightly-schizophrenic mind, I have severe depression, thoughts of suicide, emotional explosions, usually in the form of anger toward a loved one, and I incessantly pick at my cuticles. I know the music and picking are signs of OCD, but virtually everything else aligns with bipolar. The worst part is that I found a miracle medication that works for me, Abilify, it changed my life for the better, all this things went away, but I gained so much weight on it that I had to come off for medical reasons. It’s funny, I actually didn’t realize the picking or music were symptoms; I thought they were bizarre behaviors that I outgrew, but they came back as strong as before immediately after discontinuing the Abilify. It’s heartbreaking to have to live like this.