Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time?
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@stufromoz Honestly, not really. I'm a listener, not a player (although I was quite good at the guitar and accordion when I was younger). But I listened to music *constantly*. When I used to cut the grass for my parents campground every summer for 6 years, I always had my Walkman on. Basically, I had music on all the time, be it walking/skating/hiking, driving, at a club, or at home.
That is a neat parallel you brought up!
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@stufromoz Sounds like a lovely memory after all this time!
Hmmm...I actually can sing too, although my voice is suited for a very specific range and singer ability. My kitty likes it when I sing to her.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 @autistics idk, but I also have this!! I've never heard of anyone else having this, so TYSM for posting
i also kinda… silently hum? Like my throat makes the movements, but i don't make noise. the songs always in my head usually have kinda 'swooping' melodies, which feel the best to silently hum, so I wonder if that's linked. -
@AncTreat5358 @autistics idk, but I also have this!! I've never heard of anyone else having this, so TYSM for posting
i also kinda… silently hum? Like my throat makes the movements, but i don't make noise. the songs always in my head usually have kinda 'swooping' melodies, which feel the best to silently hum, so I wonder if that's linked.@ergifruit @autistics Wow, how wonderful we are alike in this way!
I can really relate to the swooping melodies.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 I'm auDHD. I very, very much have this issue too. Its quite overwhelming for me, and almost constant. (Right now its a mash up of Die For You by The Weeknd and Dracula by Tame Impala) I attribute the cause to both disorders; ADHD is dopamine seeking, autism is pattern seeking. I take vyvanse and the noise goes away when my dosage is high enough, but thats usually only in the first couple weeks of a dosage increase, otherwise my medication just makes it slightly less prevalent, almost tolerable. If I'm unmedicated the music thing causes meltdowns.
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@AncTreat5358 I'm auDHD. I very, very much have this issue too. Its quite overwhelming for me, and almost constant. (Right now its a mash up of Die For You by The Weeknd and Dracula by Tame Impala) I attribute the cause to both disorders; ADHD is dopamine seeking, autism is pattern seeking. I take vyvanse and the noise goes away when my dosage is high enough, but thats usually only in the first couple weeks of a dosage increase, otherwise my medication just makes it slightly less prevalent, almost tolerable. If I'm unmedicated the music thing causes meltdowns.
@damonology Glad you can relate. I'm an AuDHDer as well (with the ADHD side being combined for extra oomph).
I'm sorry it gets to the point of meltdowns for you when unmedicated!
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 @autistics I love this question. It’s been an issue for me too, and how intense it is seems to be a measure of stress, somehow. I remember a difficult time in my early 20s where it was causing me notable distress — I remember walking around a foreign city on vacation and just trying to *listen* to the sounds of the place, to be present, and I couldn’t, because of my unsilenceable internal radio.
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@AncTreat5358 @autistics I love this question. It’s been an issue for me too, and how intense it is seems to be a measure of stress, somehow. I remember a difficult time in my early 20s where it was causing me notable distress — I remember walking around a foreign city on vacation and just trying to *listen* to the sounds of the place, to be present, and I couldn’t, because of my unsilenceable internal radio.
@eirias @autistics That's fascinating correlating it with a stim! That fits me at times.
Sorry you had your internal songs overwhelm your desire to be present in that city.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 Yes, I am AuDHD and I have music playing in my head pretty much non stop.
It can be an earworm (which is torture) or just a song I like, or just something I heard recently like a TV show theme song.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 I have this, and I"m an autistic thingy :), so probably? if you tend toard earworms, they'll be the whole damn well passage, say there's a bit of a record in my head, it's not just, the melody it's the entire, passage from the song.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 It's odd because this happens to me and sometimes it's *really* constant and bothersome and I canNOT get songs out of my head... Other times it seems to relax and becomes much less of a persistent thing or stops happening altogether for awhile. I haven't noticed any obvious patterns as to why it might switch on and off like that, but it has made me wonder about underlying causes.
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@AncTreat5358 It's odd because this happens to me and sometimes it's *really* constant and bothersome and I canNOT get songs out of my head... Other times it seems to relax and becomes much less of a persistent thing or stops happening altogether for awhile. I haven't noticed any obvious patterns as to why it might switch on and off like that, but it has made me wonder about underlying causes.
@diametrijenesis That's very intriguing that you see that there is a non-obvious pattern at play here for you in this.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 I think it is an autistic thing.
I have the same kind of thing happening. It's like theme music for whatever is happening at the moment. as if my life is a musical or something -- sans dancing, sans ice...
The tunes include every voice, every instrument, and sometimes additional instruments and voices.
They get stuck in a loop in my head at times, especially when the tune has some impact or effect on me. When that happens, it could be stuck for days upon days, and won't change to something different at all.
Other times, there's a playlist of tunes that play sequentailly and then go back to the beginning. Weird thing about that is that there are sometimes bumps and breaks for station IDs, etc.
And then there is the music that I've never heard before, and gets stuck as well.
I was a musician some time ago. I've been doing a bit from time to time lately.
Perhaps you also are a musician or at the very least musically inclined.
I think it is all different from an earworm, at least for the most part. It seems more like a recital or replay. Or a musical. Except for the original music. It does not affect functioning.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 @autistics It's an AuDHD thing and also, apparently, some migraine sufferers experience it at as a prodromal symptom.
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@AncTreat5358 @autistics It's an AuDHD thing and also, apparently, some migraine sufferers experience it at as a prodromal symptom.
@davej @autistics Good to hear that tie-in. I'll have to do further research to find ways to cope/integrate that better to be less of a distraction.
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@Tooden @autistics Neat; you described my experience to a "T". Nice to hear it was a proper attribution to being autistic/AuDHDer.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 this a common experience for me, and as far as I know I do not have autism or ADHD. And although I love music, I am not musical and cannot carry a tune to save my life. I always attributed it as related to my inner monologue, which is practically constant
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@AncTreat5358 this a common experience for me, and as far as I know I do not have autism or ADHD. And although I love music, I am not musical and cannot carry a tune to save my life. I always attributed it as related to my inner monologue, which is practically constant
️@tiamat271 Thanks for sharing how it appears in your life, Jenny.
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Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358
I just call it my internal soundtrack. -
Is it an autistic thing to have songs (not just words you hum to, but the tones and all of the singer, with all the pauses and intonations) going through your head nearly all the time? The specific song choice seems to be situational to what's going on with me right then. They will go on a loop for a while, until the next prompt switches the selection. And interestingly, it seems to be songs from decades ago, so maybe there's a component of my memory loss at play here?
I can still function with this din going on, but I might be a bit more distracted.
This is different from an earworm.
@AncTreat5358 It's a form of what's called "involuntary cognition," and I think I remember reading once that it's related to processing in echolalia (what you describe happens to me, and I also grew up echolalic).
