[CrazyLo]

I keep hearing crickets chirping, over and over again. It is very quiet. Doesn't seem to get better or change volume when I go to another room or outside.

I have read that tinnitus can sound like crickets chirping. Is there a way to tell the difference between tinnitus and hallucinations? I do have hallucinations anyway, but haven't started hearing crickets until this morning. It has been lasting for a couple of hours now.

I have never tried this because my other auditory hallucinations happen too quickly and don't last long enough...but if you plug your ears, can you still hear the hallucination? I have plugged my ears and I still hear crickets. I'm starting to think it's tinnitus.

[Tsunamisurfer]

Originally Posted by CrazyLo

I keep hearing crickets chirping, over and over again. It is very quiet. Doesn't seem to get better or change volume when I go to another room or outside.

I have read that tinnitus can sound like crickets chirping. Is there a way to tell the difference between tinnitus and hallucinations? I do have hallucinations anyway, but haven't started hearing crickets until this morning. It has been lasting for a couple of hours now.

I have never tried this because my other auditory hallucinations happen too quickly and don't last long enough...but if you plug your ears, can you still hear the hallucination? I have plugged my ears and I still hear crickets. I'm starting to think it's tinnitus.

Crickets make an intermittent sound and should be easily differentiated from tinnitus. Cicadas, on the other hand, make a constant high pitched buzz that I find quite painful, even through a closed car window. But your test of blocking your ears to see if you get any relief is probably the most practical test. As far as hallucinations go, I can't see why such a meaningless noise can be brought up by our psyches into any real hallucination. I may be wrong, but I wouldn't get hung up on it being anything clinical to worry about. Chat to your doc by all means, but don't loose any sleep over it if you can manage to ignore it.

[CrazyLo]

Originally Posted by Tsunamisurfer

Crickets make an intermittent sound and should be easily differentiated from tinnitus. Cicadas, on the other hand, make a constant high pitched buzz that I find quite painful, even through a closed car window. But your test of blocking your ears to see if you get any relief is probably the most practical test. As far as hallucinations go, I can't see why such a meaningless noise can be brought up by our psyches into any real hallucination. I may be wrong, but I wouldn't get hung up on it being anything clinical to worry about. Chat to your doc by all means, but don't loose any sleep over it if you can manage to ignore it.

Thank you for responding! I figured out this it WAS tinnitus...and that it was caused by my Lamictal. I think I was at too high of a dose because when I stopped taking my evening dose, the tinnitus went away.

I know the feeling. I don't know whether it is a true hallucination or not, but it is strange. I took some drugs one time and was hearing crickets for nearly a week! It was really bugging me out and I went to a doctor about it. He seemed to think it was not any kind of concern. Knowing that was enough to put my mind at ease and not be bothered by it.