daystar1952
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3255
posted
I seem to go through spells or relapses when I have sound hallucinations. This past week I start to drift off to sleep and hear a radio go off right under my pillow but no radio was there. It woke me up with such a start that I flung an imaginary radio off my bed. This always happens when drifting off to sleep. It's like my brain is misfiring and will not let me go to sleep.
Finally after hours and hours of this, klonopin ,asprin and antihistamine...I was able to go to sleep. Sometimes I hear footsteps in the snow outside my window....even when there isn't any snow or I'll hear loud bangs or wooshes. Very bizarre. I know some people ahve musical hallucinations. Sometiems I'll hear music faintly but usually it's other types of noises
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
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Aspirin can make this worse as it can be toxic to the ear nerves.
I have many ear issues and have stumbled upon a ton of research along the way.
Rather than hallucinations, per se, you may be experiencing over activity of the near nerves or auditory brain process centers.
Hearing "a radio" is very common in some who have vestibular damage - it is not alone considered a hallucination. There is a logical explanation, and I have an article about that - but I'm too tired to look up my research right now.
Even other banging or footsteps can be the pressure of wind or other movements around - so much has to do with pressure changes in the vestibular canals. A squirrel on a tree, a car door closing a few doors down, all create pressure in my ears.
NMDA receptors may be too stimulated, too. Magnesium should help this tremendously. B-6, too.
All this can be common symptoms with lyme.
I strongly urge you not to use the term "hallucinations" in front of your doctor, friends or family until you've had a expert exam with a LL neurotologist. That term can be very misleading and send others into a spin regarding their respect for you and what is happening. I know that is sad, but it happens all the time.
Just as those with light sensitivity have been labeled as having "photophobia" (it's not a phobia at all)
and those with sound sensitivity were labeled with "audiophobia" or worse - until the term "hyperacusis" was put into use.
I'm too tired to really go into more research about this right now (lucky you) but will check back after I get some rest.
posted
Mmmmmuuuuuuuaaaaaaahhhhhhhhaaahhhaaaa.........(sarcastic creepy laugh is heard in the background) You are NOT alone!!!!!
I have auditory hallucinations quite frequently, probably more than I realize. I think I've gotten used to *some* of them.
I hear someone calling my name; all kinds of music; an annoying voice talking on the radio; conversations between 2 people where you can't quite figure out what they're saying........
I hear noises of all sorts that no one else hears! I hear footsteps; bangs like a loud pop, but it's off in the distance; sirens; screams; and who knows what else!
It's like describing this to anyone, even your doctors, makes you feel like you're put in the official category of: "Patient claims to hear voices. She's a mental case."
NOT TRYING TO OFFEND ANYONE WITH THAT LAST STATEMENT! The truth is that some of us DO hear all kinds of things.
I smell all kinds of things that aren't there. I see things that aren't there. It's enough to MAKE you drive you to the brink of yelling "what's wrong with you people, don't you hear, see, smell that????????"
Rest assured, you are not alone! However, it sure can make you feel sort of isolated even when you realize that your brain is messing with you.
Take care & listen carefully ----- I always try to see if "someone" is trying to tell me something useful! You never know........LOL!
klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
This is not unusual!
The sleep specialist explained to me that when these happen just as you are falling asleep, or just as you are waking up, they are called hypnogogic hallucinations.
I used to run a support group for fibromyalgia patients. As I'm sure you know, many of us later discovered we really had Lyme.
In my group, this problem was very common, and by far the most common auditory hallucination was a sound like a wire shorting out right near the person's ear, just as the person was falling asleep. At least with that one, you know it's not real.
My repeated hypnogogic hallucination was of a slamming door somewhere in the house. It was so convincing, that the first few times it happened, I got up, got my trusty Colt 32 from the night stand, and crept through the house, looking for an intruder.
Once I got some deep sleep, it faded away, and now it only happens rarely, when I have a really bad night of sleep. For me, good sleep requires Xanax, Clonidine, L-tryptophan, and a CPAP machine.
I hope you can find whatever will work for you to help you get the deep sleep you need to make this stop.
klutzo
P.S. To Terri3boys: I don't want to scare you, but smelling something that is not there can be a prelude to a seizure, so be on alert for any other signs. I have also had this problem, and so far have not had a seizure, but knowledge is power, so I'm just passing it on....
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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My daughter deals with auditory hallucinations- she hears music, as if it is playing on a radio, however, nobody else can hear it. It drives her insane, I can imagine it's highly annoying.
My daughter has a Lyme-induced seizure disorder (grand-mal and other). Her Neuro. believes that these auditory hallucinations may be a type of seizure manifestation.
[ 18. January 2009, 06:56 PM: Message edited by: JKMMC09 ]
Posts: 371 | From CT | Registered: Jun 2008
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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posted
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I also have lyme-induced seizures - and tons of ear issues, including hyperacusis and tinnitus.
I don't have sound hallun. but I have thought I heard a radio off in the distance - turns out that when a fan is on or water is running this happens.
My audiologist explained that this has a very logical explanation.
Even in absence of a fan or water running, I have come across articles that explain much more about this.
I looked for some of those in my computer file and I can't find any of them. I'm really bad at organizing. I know I have the perfect article - somewhere in here.
Not to scare anyone but this could also be from other things. It is very common with lyme and usually clears when lyme clears - annd with liver support.
However, it is best to be seen by an ear expert, some one who is lyme literate (and who knows NOT to prescribe steroids unless one's hearing is at risk but then only with specific abx) . . .
A LL neurotologist is the best person to see to sort it all out.
Here is just one article of reference. I have to stop with that athough my intersest in this subject is vast, my hands and my energy are wimping out on me.
The book "Musicophilia" (which is sitting in front of me waiting for my brain fog to clear) has an entire chapter consisting of 37 pages, entitled "Musical Hallucinations" (Chapter #6).
On page 77, he writes of a researcher's discussion about the "sense organs" and clear physical explanations of this .
From Amazon - where you can read customer reviews and look inside the book.
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Revised and Expanded Edition) - by Oliver Sacks
(Paperback) about $10.
[Oliver Sacks is a neurologist who has written many other books on complex and puzzling neurological matters.]
======== ========
(note salicylates can induce - aspirin is in that category)
" . . . Several drugs have been proposed to induce musical hallucinations, including tricyclic antidepressants,5 triazolam,6 propranolol,7 salicylates,8 clomipramine,9 and pentoxifylline.10
Musical Hallucinations Associated With Seizures Originating From an Intracranial Aneurysm
Mayo Clin Proc. 2001;76:423-426
. . .
DISCUSSION
Auditory hallucinations range from simple tinnitus to unformed hallucinations (simple repeated sounds) to formed hallucinations (highly complex series of sounds); musical hallucinations are rare.
Most reported cases have been noted in elderly women with hearing loss, although psychiatric illness is a known association.
True central nervous system sources include intracerebral hemorrhages,1 neoplasms,2 arteriovenous malformations,3 and rhombencephalitis.4
Several drugs have been proposed to induce musical hallucinations, including tricyclic antidepressants,5 triazolam,6 propranolol,7 salicylates,8 clomipramine,9 and pentoxifylline.10
. . .
Although case reports have described musical hallucinations, seizures manifested as auditory hallucinations have been reported infrequently; musical hallucinations originating from a seizure are rare.
. . .
Establishing cogent theories about the mechanism or mechanisms of musical hallucinations has been difficult and controversial because of the lack of consensus about the neurologic pathways that mediate musical processing.''. . . .
. . . .
==========
Another note is to steer clear of aspartame/Nutrasweet/Equal as that clearly is toxic and excitatory to the NMDA brain receptors and could possibly trigger this. MSG, too.
Again, magnesium is an excellent way to help calm down the over-excited neuro/sensory stuff. Adequate rest, too.
Also putting to use anti-inflammatory measures helps.
And avoiding wheat, corn, soy, dairy can help decrease pressure if excess phlegm is a player.
Starfall1969
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17353
posted
I've only had the auditory spells once in a great while--once I was sitting in the living room and I heard loud and clear a clock radio go off. I went all through the house trying to figure out where we had a clock radio, but never found it.
My son thought I was nuts, lol.
I have more trouble with ringing in the ears and something like someone has come up behind me and clanged cymbals against one ear, for lack of a better description.
But I have had a LOT of the smelling things that aren't there--mostly cigarette smoke. It used to just be once in a while; now it's almost all the time.
I did see a neurologist, worried about seizures or something. Of course, he found nothing and suggested a psychiatrist like the other doctors did.
So you're not alone.
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Hoosiers51
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In the first few years of my illness, when I was sicker, I would get the one where I could hear music that wasn't there. I would climb out of bed, open the windows, because I thought my neighbors were blaring it.
I would go outside in 20 degree weather, searching for the source of the music.
I would also have the one where it was two people talking, muffled, but it was far away and you can't make out what they're saying.
I could only figure out the mood...either concerned, or cheerful, or upset, etc.
I am really tired right now, so reading the posts above is out of the question, but I'll come back and read them later.
These things have gone away with treatment though. They would only happen at night, while I was falling asleep, laying in bed. Weird!
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daystar1952
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Thankyou so much everyone! Thankyou for sharing your experiences and info :-)
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Auditory embellishments, shall we say, have been a part of my life from the time of infection as a child. It is as though somebody is yelling or grumbling at me, though there have never been words. I have always called them 'my voices'. They get worse when my nerves are fried. I also hear and compose grand pieces of music- full symphonies, blues, rock 'n roll. Lots of pressure changes, tones, and the like. I knew I was in trouble when I quite casually mentioned to my doc that I was in good shape mental health-wise, if it weren't for these darned voices!!! Sheesh, let them think what they want. I am nutso! The mental health problems have wreaked havoc in my life. In any case, my doc is great and I'm not worried about being candid- it's all part of the picture. My eyesight has also gone screwy on me. Tons of floaters and I am blind without magnifiers. My sense of space seems affected. All of my senses have been affected, really. They're all so happy to continually inform my tired brain of their warped perceptions. It gets to be too much. Too much stimulation from outside of my own body can put me over the edge. What do you folks use for your fried nerves??
-------------------- Be Well Posts: 103 | From Out West | Registered: Jan 2009
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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Rambler,
"Lots of pressure changes, tones, and the like" is likely tinnitus. It takes MANY forms and can sound like pops, thuds, or even a faint radio or loud whirling. It can shift with many variations and "tones" and double up and come and go.
Tinnitus is a vast study of inner ear and brain but few have approached it in connection with lyme, which can have even more levels that are seemingly mysterious - until one really understands it.
Unfortunately, many have not realized that past noise damage &/or the auditory and neurological damage and reaction to toxic infections creates all sort of quite explainable physiological --- hands hurt to much to go on ...
PLEASE go back up to TINNITUS thread and look at all the links there. And - even beyond that - lyme produces lots of neuropsych. symptoms - see the menu here - to the left for library and medical abstracts.
Search google for "Sherr, lyme" to find the "Human Side of Lyme"
Good luck.
=======
Went back to read, Rambler.
You asked: " . . .What do you folks use for your fried nerves??"
First: have you been assessed by an LLMD? If you have lyme &/or coinfections, that/those MUST be addressed or nothing will help.
This book (below) will help you understand the adrenal, liver and nerve problems and what can help along the way -
[ Oh, and I only could read part of your post. In future posts if yo space with short paragraphs, more people will be able to read and more can reply. Many here have neurolyme and need lots of space to break up paragraphs. Thanks.]
This book, by an ILADS member LLMD, holds great information about treatments options and support measures:
The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) provides a forum for health science professionals to share their wealth of knowledge regarding the management of Lyme and associated diseases.
- 2/3 down the page, you can download Guidelines for the management of Lyme disease
I just wanted to let you know that my son had visual hallucinations. He was checked by the top Neurologist in the country at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He explained to us that people can have visual and/or audio hallucinations due to migraine headaches. Many times, there is no "headache" just the hallucinations. My son also felt like someone was touching him on the shoulder. That was also part of the migraine. It has something to do with the brain, but look it up, it might help. You can imagine how this would freak a little kid out!
-------------------- Powerful Women's Motto: Live your life in such a way that When your feet hit the floor In the morning, Satan shudders & says� 'Oh ****!...She's Awake!!
Its all brain issues, healing, cleaning itself out, nerve endings confused, etc.
One way around it at night is to get a "sound machine". I picked one up and it works great. I turn on the ceiling fan to drown out some noise, and turn on the sound machine for other white noise to allow my brain to ignore all other sounds. (You can pickup a cheap one at Bath, bath, beyond... Homeopathic.. and there are differnt settings of white noise, rain falling, crickets chirping, ocean waves, etc. You can even set it to turn off after 15, 30, 60 min if you dont want it running all night).
But yes, very common with brain issues...
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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posted
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The sound machine is a great idea.
I tried a few, though, and the motor was so loud or vibrational that I had to return them. One was a Homedics brand from Bath, bath, beyond - I don't recall the others. It was a few years ago, so hopefully technology has changed.
Jeffery Thompson has some great audio CDs out for sleeping.
If you can find a continuous CD to play, that may eliminate the need for a separate machine.
Tapes are hard because they are not very long but when the turn off the click can send someone to the moon.
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