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Comment by xdfgh1112 | Hacker News Reader

One alcohol withdrawal caused me to hear faint music everywhere all the time. I thought it was an unreasonable neighbour and was thoroughly convinced as it seemed to get louder as I walked around.

Nope, it was withdrawal. I discovered I could change the lyrics of the song by thinking them. And fans or other noise sources made it worse. Once I knew it was in my head, it was harmless and easy to ignore, if just a little annoying.

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My personal experience is that knowing the source of ubiquitous annoyances or health issues much more bearable.

I had issues breathing around Corona and that stuck for 3 years. 1.5 years into that and after running from doctor to doctor I was cleared from a fear that it could be lung cancer or some shit. Still don't know what it is, but that helped tremendously.

I was smelling a sweet smeel for a month until I discovered that my neighbour grows weed. I was going mad because that seriously never crossed my mind cause he was never the type to smoke. And thought I am imagining stuff. Once I knew that, it was just a minor nuisance.

So the fact that this treatment of accepting the voices helps is easy to believe for me.

Check for fungal infections or something similar. Black mold exposure can also produce lung problems that go undiagnosed.

I had exactly this! I kept having flare ups and couldn't figure out the pattern until we tore up a bathroom and discovered mold. Suddenly I realized my lungs hurt everytime I had people come stay over. They'd use the spare shower, it'd excite the mold and then I'd need an inhaler. Cheap hotels also put my lungs into a tizzy. Definitely worth checking cause mold is everywhere.

A jukebox in your head! Great unless it malfunctions (e.g., gets stuck on one song like "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer...", a friend's musical nemesis):

https://www.yahoo.com/news/grandma-got-run-over-reindeer-130...

Truth is, there's almost always some music playing in my brain.

All Along the Watchtower

wait.. really ? please share some links with info. I've had this several times in my life and i don't think I've ever been an alcoholic but i have had a relationship with several substances but I'm not really sure I've ever had withdrawal symptoms from any of them

I think these are just really common hallucinations that can be caused by a lot of things. I've had them when nearing heat stroke, but also from various substances. I write it off as brain doing what brain does best; over active pattern matching due to stress or the like. Hearing music in white noise, "whispers in the walls" etc. Very different from actually hearing personified voices.

I don't think so different, just the intensity. Alcohol withdrawal causing full blown auditory and visual hallucinations is also documented.

Yep. I've had this happen to me since I was a kid, and it's ramped up slightly over the past few years. Background noise especially at night, will seem to form music, or the sound of dialogue of a television through a wall.

Usually just sitting up and accurately identifying the source of the sound (ceiling fan, radiators, passing train, cat water bowl) makes it go away.

My brain is very bad at identifying what people are saying with background noise, but at least I get free night music.

I only get this with very faint white noise in very quiet environments. Humans can actually sense things under the noise floor, so the line between hallucination and truth is blurry.

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