Auditory hallucinations

[jacklantegi]

Hey guys,

 

I need some help and I didn't know where to post this, so here it goes. By the way, I understand that the best thing to do is to go see a medical professional, but for the time being it isn't severe enough to warrant making an appointment.

 

About week ago I started having very strange auditory hallucinations.

 

It started with vaguely hearing music whenever there is white noise around (especially a fan). But when it's quiet, I don't hear anything and it's totally fine- so I thought nothing of it when it started.

 

A couple of days ago I started hearing police sirens. I live close to a police stations so I just thought there was a lot of police cars driving around my area and dismissed it.

 

Then I began noticing that I was in fact hearing a constant non-stop police siren. It's not a constant pitch. It sounds exactly like the real siren looping over and over just as you would hear it driving right outside your house.

 

It gets worse around white noise and when I focus on it, and starts mostly later in the day (when I wake up it's gone).

 

When everything is completely silent I can still hear it but not as much.

 

Whenever I start to focus it, it sort of re-loops and makes the exact same woop-woop sound when the siren cuts to another to another loop before it ends. It's REALLY weird.

 

I don't have ANY other auditory hallucinations other than this. I am a 32yo male in good physical and mental health with only a history of mild depression. I don't take any drugs or medications. I highly doubt it's any kind of schizophrenia (I'm fairly well versed in the spectrum of mental disorders)

 

For now, I'm trying not to worry about to much and I'm hoping it'll go away on it's own, but quite honestly it's kind of freaking me out.

[doc benway]

I think it would be a mistake to take advice from anonymous strangers on this.

I'd recommend you'd get it checked out by a doctor.

The type of sounds you're describing are more suggestive of a neurological or inner ear issue than mental illness but, as you mention, auditory hallucinations are often a symptom of schizophrenia. In mental illness, the hallucinations do tend to become more personal in nature and often are described as voices.

Good luck.

[Edward M]

My opinion i see a medical professional straight away because these things tend to get bad very quickly.. If it is caught quickly then you got an extremely good chance of not being a lot of medication for a long time.. just a minimum for a short period at the worst... maybe some therapy or a brain scan at the best..

 

 

Hope this helps.. i'm speaking from experience here..

 

Hopefully YaMu or somene else qualified can give you some advice.

 

If you can get to Paris in France, Serge Augier is the top dog for treating neurological disorders with tcm.. well worth a visit.

 

Peace

[Aetherous]

When going within, like meditators of various types do, parts of the brain that should remain inactive can become turned on. Auditory hallucinations are definitely a sign of something being abnormal.

 

Try not practicing whatever you are currently and see if it goes away. Stop focusing on the phenomenon...don't listen to white noise, listen to music.

 

If you are getting less than 8 hours of sleep at night, sleep longer. Try to decrease your stress in daily life.

 

(The above suggestions are just from someone who knows nothing. What other people said about not listening to anyone at this forum, and immediately going to see a psychiatrist is probably better advice.)

 

If it continues, talk to a psychiatrist. As well versed as you are in mental health disorders, you aren't qualified to self-diagnose.

 

...

 

Lim and Lin say that, “Chinese psychiatric literature describes a syndrome called “Qigong Induced Psychosis” characterized by the appearance of auditory hallucinations and delusions after the initiation of qigong in a practitioner who has never experienced these symptoms before and in whom these symptoms remit soon after the cessation of qigong practice” (1996, page 373). Patients having this Schizophrenic-like disorder, experience usually only the hallucinations with auditory elements. Some people also experience dizziness, and a lack of concentration, like the man in the case study. The Chinese treat this disorder by stopping the practice of qigong along with the use of anti-psychotic medication. It seems though, that this disorder is only caused by extreme types of qigong, which place the practitioner in a trance and attempt to communicate with other beings (Lim and Lin, 1996).

 

http://healthpsych.psy.vanderbilt.edu/qi_gong.htm

Edited May 9, 2012 by Scotty

[Harmonious Emptiness]

can you say what kind of qi gong or meditation practices you do?

[jacklantegi]

can you say what kind of qi gong or meditation practices you do?

 

SFQG as well as chakra meditations occasionally.

[jacklantegi]

Thanks for the great info about the "qigong psychosis".

 

I'm not really worried about it, but it hasn't gone away yet.

 

I think the onset coincided with the tremendous surge of energy I started feeling in my body a while ago. It feels like I'm plugged into an outlet or something, and it's becoming very difficult to control during qigong. I suspect it may have gotten trapped in my head and isn't going out.

 

Anyway, yeah. I'm going to try stopping and see what happens.

 

It's pretty fascinating what the brain is capable of doing.

 

When going within, like meditators of various types do, parts of the brain that should remain inactive can become turned on. Auditory hallucinations are definitely a sign of something being abnormal.

 

Try not practicing whatever you are currently and see if it goes away. Stop focusing on the phenomenon...don't listen to white noise, listen to music.

 

If you are getting less than 8 hours of sleep at night, sleep longer. Try to decrease your stress in daily life.

 

(The above suggestions are just from someone who knows nothing. What other people said about not listening to anyone at this forum, and immediately going to see a psychiatrist is probably better advice.)

 

If it continues, talk to a psychiatrist. As well versed as you are in mental health disorders, you aren't qualified to self-diagnose.

 

...

[de_paradise]

I dont think its anything to worry about, everyone's subconsious mind creates and builds on sense data. As long as you know it doesnt correspond to reality, it will likely fade away. But it could be energy related. Contrary to prevailing views, I wouldnt recommend seeing a doctor or shrink for something that is likely energetic or kundalini related, because the chance of misdiagnosis is 100% in that case. If you see a doctor for something not in their realm of protocol, they will fit it in somewhere within their protocol. I hear lots of explosions, bloops, bleeps and cracks noises from my head and body while in meditation--you think I'm gonna run to a doctor that knows nothing about cultivation and ask his opinion?

[Informer]

Where do you live at? Do you have any neighbors that could be playing music or watching TV?

 

Unless you live in a house in the middle of nowhere, that preceding sentence seems to be the most logical explanation.

 

I would agree to not go to the doctor for it, if it really doesn't affect you, otherwise you will get prescribes some hardcore drugs and not be able to meditate at all because they are powerful drugs.

 

(Just ignore it)

 

It is likely "Self" playing tricks (imo).

 

if you can't ignore it and it start effecting your actions then see a doctor.

Edited May 12, 2012 by Informer

[jacklantegi]

Hey everyone!

 

I have some updates on my situation. The following happened within about a 1 week span.

 

-The "siren" sound subsided and a different kind of siren slowly crept up and took it's place.

 

-I went camping in the middle of nowhere and the wildlife sounds truly come alive at full volume during the night, especially the loud noises the frogs make. When I woke up the next day and eventually got home, I noticed that whenever it's quite, I started hearing those very same sounds I heard during the night I was camping. So it seems that sounds sort of get "printed" and play back whenever it's quiet. These "nighttime wildlife" sounds subsided after a day or so.

 

-I completely, 100% stopped doing all qigong and meditation, although it was particularly difficult because my body is so conditioned to them, that it starts doing all the motions as soon as I stop paying attention and drift off.

 

-The (police siren) sound was about 90% gone after I stopped.

 

-Today, I started doing qigong again and after just 1 session, that very first siren sound I was hearing in the beginning came back completely, 100%.

 

-I made a discovery that if I focus my awareness on my left frontal temporal lobe (one of the areas of the brain which processes sound in the brain), the sounds diminish in intensity. This is the only way I've found to make them less prominent.

 

-I also tested an atypical antipsychotic that I had left over from when I was having sleep issues for a couple of days and it had little effect on it. From my research, this is pretty much the only thing that would be prescribed as treatment should I see a psych, so I can rule that out right away.

 

I want to emphasize that these sounds are absolutely not coming from an outside source like a TV or radio, since I hear them literally everywhere I go, and even when I plug my ears. When it is silent, I don't hear it much though, but as soon as some kind of white noise comes up, so does the sound.

 

Well now I'm kind of stumped..

[onebir]

Well now I'm kind of stumped..

You sound very calm & unflustered about this now - how about trying to apply as full as possible awareness to what you're doing (ie anything other than the sound)? After all, a perception needs a certain amount of attention to be sustained...

Edited May 18, 2012 by onebir

[hagar]

Hey everyone!

 

I have some updates on my situation. The following happened within about a 1 week span.

 

-The "siren" sound subsided and a different kind of siren slowly crept up and took it's place.

 

-I went camping in the middle of nowhere and the wildlife sounds truly come alive at full volume during the night, especially the loud noises the frogs make. When I woke up the next day and eventually got home, I noticed that whenever it's quite, I started hearing those very same sounds I heard during the night I was camping. So it seems that sounds sort of get "printed" and play back whenever it's quiet. These "nighttime wildlife" sounds subsided after a day or so.

 

-I completely, 100% stopped doing all qigong and meditation, although it was particularly difficult because my body is so conditioned to them, that it starts doing all the motions as soon as I stop paying attention and drift off.

 

-The (police siren) sound was about 90% gone after I stopped.

 

-Today, I started doing qigong again and after just 1 session, that very first siren sound I was hearing in the beginning came back completely, 100%.

 

-I made a discovery that if I focus my awareness on my left frontal temporal lobe (one of the areas of the brain which processes sound in the brain), the sounds diminish in intensity. This is the only way I've found to make them less prominent.

 

-I also tested an atypical antipsychotic that I had left over from when I was having sleep issues for a couple of days and it had little effect on it. From my research, this is pretty much the only thing that would be prescribed as treatment should I see a psych, so I can rule that out right away.

 

I want to emphasize that these sounds are absolutely not coming from an outside source like a TV or radio, since I hear them literally everywhere I go, and even when I plug my ears. When it is silent, I don't hear it much though, but as soon as some kind of white noise comes up, so does the sound.

 

Well now I'm kind of stumped..

 

Keep in mind, this is guesswork, and not advice;

From what I have stumbled across related to neuroscience, the only conventional diagnosis that has several of your symptoms are either some degree of schizophrenic incident, or something complex like an actual neurological issue. There are in some literature examples where auditory hallucinations are correlated to neurological pathology. Yet keep in mind, it is correlated, not caused.

 

The non-western explanation may very-well be more interesting and precise though...

 

h

[gj551]

Clairaudience (hearing/listening)

 

In the field of parapsychology, clairaudience [from late 17th century French clair (clear) and audience (hearing)] is a form of extra-sensory perception wherein a person acquires information by paranormal auditory means. It is often considered to be a form of clairvoyance.[26] Clairaudience is essentially the ability to hear in a paranormal manner, as opposed to paranormal seeing (clairvoyance) and feeling (clairsentience). Clairaudient people have psi-mediated hearing. Clairaudience may refer not to actual perception of sound, but may instead indicate impressions of the "inner mental ear" similar to the way many people think words without having auditory impressions. But it may also refer to actual perception of sounds such as voices, tones, or noises which are not apparent to other humans or to recording equipment. For instance, a clairaudient person might claim to hear the voices or thoughts of the spirits of persons who are deceased. In Buddhism, it is believed that those who have extensively practiced Buddhist meditation and have reached a higher level of consciousness can activate their "third ear" and hear the music of the spheres; i.e. the music of the celestial gandharvas. Clairaudience may be positively distinguished from the voices heard by the mentally ill when it reveals information unavailable to the clairaudient person by normal means (including cold reading or other magic tricks), and thus may be termed "psychic" or paranormal.

[jacklantegi]

I'm actually quite surprised myself that I'm not going insane over this. Good thing I'm not, though because it would be WAYY worse if I did. I guess I just sort of know that it'll eventually go away.

 

Regarding perception and attention- that's true! However, just like when you stop actively listening to something, your ears still perceive the sound, it's the same thing with this. It's still there even if I don't focus on it- in fact, I have learned to pretty much never focus on it, but it doesn't really help it go away...

 

 

About the clairaudience, I wish! I don't see how this could be clairaudience... perhaps the beginning stages of clairaudience??

 

You sound very calm & unflustered about this now - how about trying to apply as full as possible awareness to what you're doing (ie anything other than the sound)? After all, a perception needs a certain amount of attention to be sustained...

[onebir]

I'm actually quite surprised myself that I'm not going insane over this. Good thing I'm not, though because it would be WAYY worse if I did. I guess I just sort of know that it'll eventually go away.

 

Regarding perception and attention- that's true! However, just like when you stop actively listening to something, your ears still perceive the sound, it's the same thing with this. It's still there even if I don't focus on it- in fact, I have learned to pretty much never focus on it, but it doesn't really help it go away...

 

It sounds like you're handling it really well. Perhaps the best way to go is just to ignore it?

 

You mentioned focusing on one part of your brain tended to reduce the sound. I thought perhaps the focus on something else was more important than the exact location of the focus...

[suninmyeyes]

jacklantegi,

I mostly agree with deparadise on this. Except, I would add that hearing inner sounds could directly correspond to understanding of who and how we are and how we are coming into physical manifestation. It is something worth exploring and questioning.

We are build on sound , sound is our first 'skeleton'that physical bone skeleton is bulid upon.

 

By deeper practise one needs to learn to swim ,where shiczophrenics drown.

It is a ride of a lifetime. How much you want to explore or when you want to have a break to digest is up to you.

Everyone has a shizophrenic potential inside ,just that most dont notice it (just my opinion).

Exploring inner dimensions requires developing clarity and courage which comes from soft loving,forgiving heart - sorting out ones mental and emotional house.

I hear all sort of things and music too regulary for years. I listen to the sound of my body and can even hear hurt knee emiting different sound frequency to the other knee. Just letting you know that this things are not so unusual or as uncommon.

 

Why not ask the person who thought you qigong about your expirience? That is what I did when just started meditating and have developed a friendly relationship that way with my teacher.

Edited May 19, 2012 by suninmyeyes

[jacklantegi]

Ah, yes. =)

 

When I said "focusing" on that part of the brain, I meant in the sense of focusing my bodily awareness and energy, and not as much my attention.

 

My logic is that doing so regulates or shuts down whatever is causing the sound to arise on a purely physical level. It's not an inner exploration sort of thing.

 

I just put my awareness on that spot for a second and keep it there, and the volume goes down noticeably. I can do this while driving and it works.

 

It sounds like you're handling it really well. Perhaps the best way to go is just to ignore it?

 

You mentioned focusing on one part of your brain tended to reduce the sound. I thought perhaps the focus on something else was more important than the exact location of the focus...

[jacklantegi]

I agree 100%!

 

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to approach getting an understanding of what it is. My inner faculties are not yet up to par for doing this sort of thing and for the time being, I am having difficulty looking at it as something other than simply a nuisance.

 

In any case, today has been my best day so far. It is almost entirely gone. I worked on some blockages I had in my body. Turns out there was a major one in my heart area that I was ignoring. It took a lot of work but I got the energy flowing through again. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, though. BUT, if I were to attribute the sounds to one organ it would have to be the heart, so it makes sense.

 

jacklantegi,

I mostly agree with deparadise on this. Except, I would add that hearing inner sounds could directly correspond to understanding of who and how we are and how we are coming into physical manifestation. It is something worth exploring and questioning.

We are build on sound , sound is our first 'skeleton'that physical bone skeleton is bulid upon.

 

By deeper practise one needs to learn to swim ,where shiczophrenics drown.

It is a ride of a lifetime. How much you want to explore or when you want to have a break to digest is up to you.

Everyone has a shizophrenic potential inside ,just that most dont notice it (just my opinion).

Exploring inner dimensions requires developing clarity and courage which comes from soft loving,forgiving heart - sorting out ones mental and emotional house.

I hear all sort of things and music too regulary for years. I listen to the sound of my body and can even hear hurt knee emiting different sound frequency to the other knee. Just letting you know that this things are not so unusual or as uncommon.

 

Why not ask the person who thought you qigong about your expirience? That is what I did when just started meditating and have developed a friendly relationship that way with my teacher.

[Owledge]

It's pretty fascinating what the brain is capable of doing.

Haha, you have no idea. You could be lying in your bed dreaming right now without having any clue.

 

My advice is not professional, just some ideas based on suspicions:

 

Experiment a lot with the phenomenon. Plain and simple trial&error. Since it is sounds that seem to have no special meaning, just old stuck stuff, maybe that's the best way to see it: health is freely flowing energy. Something related to hearing got stuck. Try to explore this aspect psychologically. Maybe a past experience having been triggered very faintly?

I also recently learned that all kinds of tinnitus and generally hearing can be related to kidney energy, so maybe play arouns a bit and explore whether affecting your kidney energy flow affects the acoustic penomenon.

Also try putting an emphasis on belly breathing, putting energy into the dan tien, since when stuff in the head goes out of control, maybe it's one of those cases of having too little grounding.

[suninmyeyes]

I agree 100%!

 

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to approach getting an understanding of what it is. My inner faculties are not yet up to par for doing this sort of thing and for the time being, I am having difficulty looking at it as something other than simply a nuisance.

 

In any case, today has been my best day so far. It is almost entirely gone. I worked on some blockages I had in my body. Turns out there was a major one in my heart area that I was ignoring. It took a lot of work but I got the energy flowing through again. I don't know if this has anything to do with it, though. BUT, if I were to attribute the sounds to one organ it would have to be the heart, so it makes sense.

Well it seems to me that you are listening to your needs and know what to do. Glad to hear you are better.

Here is a really nice book by H.Inyat Khan 'Mysticisam of sound and music'

http://www.sufimessage.com/mysticism-of-sound/index.html

I dont necessarily agree with everything written but touches up on some interesting points about sound should you be at all interested to explore.

[三江源]

jack, I know what you mean about moving your awareness about in different parts of the brain and getting different results.

 

I get voices and snatches of conversation, dont know who I am hearing, it all seems pretty inconsequential.

 

Sometimes, though, I hear everything, like people sighing as they walk by in the street outside my house.. heightened hearing.

 

think is just frequencies shifting around, sense heightening.

[Edward M]

Jack,

 

What do police sirens mean to you; what do you associate them with?

 

Have you ever done something illegal or something neutral that you feel guilty about? Do you feel something is coming for you, like karma or a big bill or something?

 

I'm no expert, just trying to get the ball rolling for you in terms of trying to understand what this could be. Must be quite unnerving and even annoying for you, all these sounds!

 

Perhaps you have taken lsd/mushrooms before and your sub-conscious is open to suggestion somewhat; just thinking because when you stopped the qigong/meditation the sounds went away just like other poster suggested (sorry cannot recall who it was now), or maybe not.

 

If your sub-consious is really quite open and in touch with your conscious mind then these sounds could well have a metaphorical meaning that only you can understand.

 

There is actually a whole therapy practice for psychosis based on the theory (a sound one-no pun intended lol) that in psychosis the right hemisphere is stuck in rem sleep mode and thus is taking waking experience as if it was a dream.

 

Hope this is useful, and interesting perhaps if not useful.

 

Take care dude! hope you get to the bottom of it soon

**edit** link to the theory i mentioned: http://www.hgi.org.uk/archive/psychosis.htm

Peace

Ed

Edited May 19, 2012 by Edward M

[Owledge]

@Edward

I don't think it's a metaphor thing since he said he also had that stuck sound thing with frogs in the woods.

[Edward M]

Owledge,

 

Yeah you are right.. my bad, didn't take that into consideration..

 

Thanks for pointing that out

 

Peace

Ed

[CrunchyChocolate555]

Hey everyone,

 

I'm the person who originally started this thread- but lost my login info so this is my new account. I'd like to give an update:

 

It's now over 1 year later, and I still have the same problem- it never went away.

 

There have been periods, sometimes lasting a couple months or more, when it stopped. This coincided with not doing any kind of energy cultivation practices.

 

It was almost unnoticeable until recently, when I started doing the microcosmic orbit. Then it started again in full force. It is actually the MCO that sparked it in the first place last year.

 

So for now, I will simply discontinue doing the MCO and wait until it goes away... which may take a while.

 

I have still found absolutely no information about what could be causing this or how to fix this. I think I will reread the thread and see if I may have not missed some advice.

 

I'm just glad it has not driven me nuts at this point.

 

To be honest, it does seem like a neurological issue at this point since I do not have any major psychological issues. I'm a well adjusted person and live a normal day-to-day life. It just feels like a really whacked out tinnitus.

 

That said, why is it a police/ambulence siren, of all things? There must be SOME psychological component to it with all said and done.

 

I have on several occasions tried to "follow the energy" of the sound, using the dissolving water method, but it has never led me anywhere. There doesn't seem to be anything to follow and always ends in frustration.

 

I REALLY wish I can somehow get rid of this.

Edited June 9, 2013 by CrunchyChocolate555