Noisy brain?

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This might be a bit strange, or a bit obvious, am not sure...

I have been thinking about how my brain seems to be... well.... "noisier" than perhaps others, and I am wondering if this is an ASD thing? And if so, what is it?

Is there scientific research for this?

I took this medicine once, which affected the norepinephrine levels.... On one of the days of taking this, I suddenly experienced something I have NEVER felt before.

Quiet.

My head was quiet!! I had had no idea just how NOISY it normally must be!! The quiet was a WONDERFUL feeling!! ! Such a relief!

I also did a meditation once, where I was really focussed and determined to push away ALL thoughts and songs, and anything and everything I noticed. I was quite successful. HOWEVER, I noticed that there was this static noise still there!! ! I couldn't get rid of it, it was just there, in the background, this static.

This must sound crazy, but does anyone else know what I am talking about and/or could explain what this could be linked to?

I wonder if this contributes to being easily overwhelmed and anxious all the time?

define "noise"…

noise as in tinnitus? or noise as in pictures, words, thoughts, ideas etc. ?

I began taking daily magnesium supplements last year, and noticed my brain less "noisy" as well. It was also much, much easier to concentrate.

Noisy Brain Research Autism

Try reading this article I found.

I wish I could... It isn't really a noise that I am consciously aware of... I mean, I know that my head is always full of thoughts, pictures, ideas, songs, all sorts of things... But is was more that during that time when my head was quiet, that I realised that usually my head ISN'T like this...

Unfortunately I haven't experienced it again since in order to analyse it further...

Edit: Actually, it was kind of like that experience when a fridge motor or some other machinery suddenly turns off and you're like "aaahhh that feels SO much better now", when you may not have even realised it was on in the first place.

I have dabbled with magnesium before, but haven't noticed a marked difference as you have described... I had to take it at night as it made me feel a bit weird to be honest... There are different types though. That is great that you got such good results!

Thank you, yes that is interesting!! I would love to read more details about it - the article spends a lot of time discussing the validity of the research rather than the research itself. Great start though, thank you!

My brain is like a TV with all of the stations playing at once. It is always noisy. Sometimes I have a sensation that it is humming or buzzing (two closest words I can come up with). I attribute it to ADD.

That is interesting. My Son has ADD and I suspect I do - very much so! - as well. However, my psychiatrist doesn't believe one can have both Asperger's AND ADD, she just thinks it is the executive functioning issues that accompany Asperger's...
The medicine that I took that I mentioned in my original post was one that some people take for ADD, actually.

I once did something similar - maybe it was caffeine for the first time. I kind of panicked because I had no idea what happened, what was wrong with my brain, nor what I was supposed to do.

when i was on strattera, my brain was comparitively quiet.

I'm actually the opposite. My brain seems to be much quieter than average. I know this because I have studied meditation and could never understand why other people found it difficult - there was all this talk in the literature about how to quiet the "monkey mind" and "stop busy thoughts", and I was all "huh? what busy thoughts? what are all these exercises for?" All I had to do was not think. Unless I am focused on something, or worried about something, my brain doesn't do anything! It's just empty. I kind of have to run a starter motor before I can get my brain started on a task, and once it's gained momentum on that thing, it's difficult to maneouver it onto something else (which is why I get very frustrated when interrupted or when something intrudes on the tasks I had set for the day). However, I can very easily not think of anything at all and just sit with my head empty, which is why meditating requires no effort for me.

Autism does seem a condition of extreme opposites, however, so I wouldn't be surprised if autistic people were scattered on both extremes of brain activity without many in the normal range.

About noisy brains, see my signature.

"Much as a metronome helps a pianist say in tempo, it’s possible that the repetitive behaviors commonly seen in people with autism emerge as their way of making sense of longer time periods."

http://sfari.org/news-and-opinion/conference-news/2012/society-for-neuroscience-2012/children-with-autism-get-lost-in-time-imaging-study-says

That other quote is from another article that was linked on the page. I think this is why I count when I'm bored or anxious. I need to reassure myself that time is actually passing.

I don't know if you mean the same thing by noisy brain as me.

My brain is always full of things, and runs at a really fast rate.

My brain isn't always "noisy", but sometimes, especially at night when I want to sleep. Then my thoughts are racing and there's songs and videos playing in my head. I guess I have ADD though, will know for certain after my assessment in January.