Hi, I'm new here and I just wondered if what I'm experiencing is normal or not. When I'm bored, or stressed, voices (usually my friends voices) pop in my head and have conversations with me. I can't control what they say, or what I say back. Also, sometimes when I'm trying to think about something, this music in my head will get so loud I can't think straight, and the harder I try to get it to go away, the louder the music gets. Recently, I've had these strange voices in my head shouting curse words. I want them to go away, but the more I tell them to go away, the more they seem to scream. I also have daydreams almost 24/7, and I have no control over them either. Is all of this normal, or am I going crazy?

Thanks for listening.

I KNOW WHAT U MEAN!!!! I can relate to EVERYTHING you've said except for the curse word thing. I hold 'mock' conversations with my friends in my head that I have absolutely no control over. It's weird, the 'voices' of my friends in my head react exactly how my friends would react to a conversation in real life. I also daydream the most bizzare ass sh*t. There's definitely a totally seperate reality going on in my head. I hear music in my head all of the time and sometimes it really f*cks my thought process up. What really gets me is when songs play in my head and then they start morphing into other songs. For instance Aphex Twin morphing into Tori Amos's Rasberry Swirl. It really trips me out to say the least. Other times I just have to completely give in to it...So just to let you know that you're not alone...but there's a flipside/downside to this. You might have to be put on medication. I had to start taking zyprexa, although I haven't been diagnosed schizophrenic because I don't have any delusions, meaning I know that the stuff that I "hear" in my head isn't real, it's just stuff that my brain plays around with and that I have absolutely no control over. Keep yer chin up is all that I can say, I'm just as confused and biwildered as you are.

Hey arebe! Glad to hear someone else out there understands! Everytime I try to tell someone about it, they usually get a very strange look on their face. I've never been to a doctor about it, do you think I should? Could this be a sign of schizophrenia? I don't have any delusions, but I am extremly paranoid. When walking around a store or something, I always think someone's following me or wanting to mug me or something. I'm even paranoid walking around my own house with all the doors locked! Anymore input would be appreciated!

Thanks for your reply!

I don't know if it's a sign of schizophrenia or not. My doctor didn't give me any straight diagnosis, but I think he may be holding back. As for you, if you can live with this thing then I don't see any reason for you to consult a doctor. Unless ofcourse it's putting a damper on your life. When this stuff started happening to me back in August of '02 I knew it wasn't normal and it slowly got worse the more I ignored it. I was also smoking alot of pot at the time and also using psychedelic drugs on occasion, which didn't help my situation any. At my worst point my brain was spitting out random words and phrases at me that I had no control over. I still feel myself slipping away into the void so to speak (I don't know how else to describe it) but I still have hope. There's also some other symptoms I experience that are beyond the diagnostic model of schizophrenia. I have these horrible thoughts pop into my head that 'feel' like stabs to my eye with a pencil or a paper cut. I kind of get this internal vision of a pencil stabbing my eye but at the same time I also feel it. I don't know if this is a tactile hallucination or if it's just an obsessive symptom. So far noone I've talked to has heard of anything like this. Even my doctor is stumped. And that symptom is worse than the voices. Lately I've been getting these weird visuals in my periferial (spelling) vision. It's like a person standing there but when I turn and look there's noone there. It's quite disturbing. Sometimes I see tracers too, infact I saw quite a bit of tracers today at work.

So when did this stuff start happening to you? Have you noticed it getting worse/better at certain times, perhaps a cyclic pattern to it all? I'm grateful, and also saddened, to know that someone else out there is experiencing something very similar to what I'm going through. What's also worse is that I haven't told my friends that I hear their voices within my head...I feel like it's some kind of dark secret, but really I just don't know how to explain it to them. What a strange phenomenon this is...looking foreward to your reply.

MusicGirl..I suffer with the exact same thing! Read my posts about "Does this sound schiztophrenic''? Its explaining about the voices and conversations I hear in my head..Your not alone ~Jenna~

Hi arebe, good to hear from ya again! Well, I've had the conversations in my head for awhile now, I can't remember when they started, but I used to could always recognize whose voice was "talking" to me. About a month and a half ago, I started having voices I didn't recognize. (the cursing ones) That's when I first started to wonder if anything was wrong with me.

I TOTALLY KNOW WHAT U MEAN ABOUT GLIMPSING SOMEONE IN YOUR PERIPHIAL VISION!! I've had this happen A LOT, and it always makes me so much more paranoid than I already am. Weird. I've never had the "stabbing" feeling, but my foot feels like it's on fire a lot, like literally burning, and I have no medical reason for it. I have bad images in my head also. It's hard to explain, lol. And I also have NO IDEA how to tell friends or family about it.

Jennaca,
Hi, I read ur other post, and you do sound a lot like me!! I'm pretty sure I have OCD, and I have a lot of anixiety too. If you have any insight, I'd love to hear.

Hope to hear from y'all again!

I dont even know what to say or think right now, because I'm still trying to figure it out MYSELF..All I know is that these voices are intrusive and constantly there..The more I fear them and panic, the worse they get..Ahhn I dunno..I think I'm crazy!

alright it's obvious that there are more than a few of us out there suffering from this thing. The question is what the hell is it and how do we get it to go away? We could put any kind of label on it and this still wouldn't solve our problem. I think I had a predisposition to this thing and smoking pot and using drugs aggrevated my symptoms to the point that they are at now. I'm currently on zyprexa but this only masks my symptoms and doesn't necessarily free me from them. Some days it's cool and I hardly notice anything wrong. Other days (like today) my symptoms are in full swing. Other than the conversation thing I also get 'voices' opposing my ideas. It's very strange indeed. At times it seems that I can control these 'voices', other times when I'm not thinking about it I have no control, the voices just say what they please. The 'voices' that I hear are totally not in the audial realm, like real sounds, they are more of the 'in your head' type. I too suffer anxiety from this. And the more I read about schizophrenia (if it is schizophrenia) the more depressed I get because schizophrenia is such an unforgiving disease. I fear that my symptoms will get worse. In this case I hope my hunches are incorrect. Hope to hear a reply -Arebe

My voices aren't audible either, I know that they're in my head. Of course, there are those times when I could've swore someone screamed my name, but there's no one around. Another thing, I'll be sitting around, and people around me are talking, but I have a hard time comprehending what they're saying. I hafta like repeat what is being said over and over in my head in order for me to finally get it. It doesn't happen all the time, but it's weird when it does. Also, I can be sitting in a very familar place, and I'll all of a sudden feel very weird about it and want to leave. I feel like if I don't leave, I'll scream or something. Weird, I know.

Well, it is good to see I'm not alone, although I'm sorry y'all go through this too. Maybe we'll get some answers. Keep your responses coming, it really helps me not feel so lonely!!

Do you ever get 'voices' that are kind of like ongoing commentary of what you're thinking or doing? Like "She's xxxx xxxx xxxxxx"?

I don't have an on going commentary. I do have voices that comment on my behavior a lot though. Like, I was playing basketball, and I missed the hoop, and this voice in the back of my head was like, "haha, you can't shoot." And lately, when I'm about to start a conversation with one of my friends or family, I get a voice that goes, "they don't care, you're just annoying them." It appears to be my voice talking, but I'm not trying to think that. I don't understand what's going on!