Humming

Help me, I’ve started humming and I just can’t stop. I started at least a year ago. Tunes will pop into my head and get stuck and before I know it I am humming them uncontrollably. Sometimes, when there is no tune, I hum random melodies; almost like a vocal chord experiment rather than anything my brain has something to do with. I looked up “Humming Uncontrollably” on the Internet and found that I am not alone. There were no answers on the WebMD site that popped up but a long list of messages from other people who have similar problems: humming inappropriately at work; humming when you don’t even realize you’re doing it; husbands and wives getting irritated because of the constant humming; humming, humming, humming. I seem to hum when I don’t have something specific to focus on. I don’t seem to hum when I’m on the computer. I hum when I’m driving or walking, or washing. I hum old songs that I haven’t thought of in years and refrains from new songs that I don’t know how I know. I hum refrains and then I wrack my brain to remember where that refrain comes from or how the rest of the song goes. I hum to drown out the thoughts of fear and panic that might come creeping in if I let my brain idle for too long. I hum rather than yell, although yelling seems to be something I want to do even though I know it will be unproductive and, worse, it will make the people I want to yell at defensive and start yelling back. Many of the messages I read seem to show some link between the humming and antidepressants. Okay. However, if that is the source, folks around me will have to deal with the humming because I am not giving up my antidepressant until my life changes for the better. Hm hm hmmmm…