Tune has been stuck in my head for 9 years

I'm new here, and I have a question. First, I'm 55 and believe myself to have ADHD tho' I've not had it confirmed yet, except by non-professional relatives/friends. I am currently reading a book called Women With Attention Deficit Disorder by Sari Solden. It's the first book I've ever read about ADHD.

For the past 9 years every time I get behind the wheel (and I drive a bus for a living), I hum the same tune... Actually, it's just a phrase of a tune and it consists of about 4 or 5 notes. (I found out that this is called an "ear worm." Weird.) All day long except for when I'm talking to someone or someone is talking to me, I hum this phrase. A friend of mine suggested that perhaps I'm using it as an aid to concentrate while I'm driving because I get distracted and thoughts race through my head all day. (When you're driving, what else can you do but think all day. I get tired of thinking sometimes; my mind just won't slow down.) Anyway, I suppose his theory is possible, but honestly, I don't know. As soon as it starts each day, I just get so fed up with it and with myself for not being able to stop thinking it/humming it. It's exactly like a broken record... the same 4 or 5 notes for 8 hours a day. Sometimes I think that I'm eventually going to go insane!!!!! As soon as I get off work and get into my car to drive home, I turn on some music (any music will do) to drown it out and get me to stop... which is usually successful until the following day when I start driving the bus again.

Does this happen to anyone else here? or does anyone have an explanation? I've honestly thought about seeing a psychiatrist or hypnotist to see if he/she can help me make it go away!

By the way, I'm a good driver; I've only had a couple of minor accidents in 18 years of driving professionally.

I don't have ADHD (at least I don't think I do :P) and I have the same problem and have as far back as I can remember. When I was a kid I would sometimes forget that it was only in my head. It isn't always the same song, but there is a constant background soundtrack in my life and it has been there for years. Sometimes it's just a series of repetitive notes. As I write this, I'm listening to U2's "New Year's Day", involuntarily of course. Often it will be a song I dislike, which is annoying, or even worse two songs at once. The point is that it never stops, sometimes not even when I'm dreaming, and it is there as soon as I wake like switching on a radio.

I have told other people about it and they found it odd, so I thought I'd mention it to the psychiatrist, who then recommended cognitive behavioural therapy. I haven't gone yet. Most of the time it isn't a problem, and sometimes it's even nice; I can listen to Mozart in my head, and it is just as moving to me as if I were listening to a recording, louder than the horrible radio stations my co-workers insist on blasting all day long. But other times it gets incredibly frustrating because I have little to no control over it and it can cause great anxiety for me, even keeping me from sleeping.

I hope you will look into the situation if it is causing you distress or interfering with your daily life. I'm going on my second day of U2 at this point, so I understand where you are coming from, for sure.

I am also very curious - what song is it that you are stuck with?

It's a relief to know that someone else knows what I'm going through in this respect! Years and years of the same 5-note phrase is a long time. Thank you for sharing your own experience, Lotus!

The musical phrase that won't stop or that I can't stop humming is similar to (but slower than) the "Ruffles and Flourishes" played before Hail to the Chief.