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Sword86

macrumors 6502
Oct 6, 2012
345
162
Part of me thinks it’s a parasite or a virus or a bacteria or something that we all have in common. Either that or a mild Chiari malformation or some type of brainstem / spinal issue near the neck or the back of the head. Way too many people experience this, but also not enough people, for it to be random or something that isn’t pathological.
I've been watching this thread for ages and never responded because what I have is not what I'd call a sizzling sound at all. Mine is like an electrical shock up the left side of my neck. I don't worry about it. It is a known side affect of taking Paxil. I've been on and off it for years. It's way better than being off Paxil. S
 

Bawstun

Suspended
Jun 25, 2009
2,374
2,999
I've been watching this thread for ages and never responded because what I have is not what I'd call a sizzling sound at all. Mine is like an electrical shock up the left side of my neck. I don't worry about it. It is a known side affect of taking Paxil. I've been on and off it for years. It's way better than being off Paxil. S

I’m not sure that’s what most of the thread experiences, at least not me. It isn’t left or right, it’s hard to explain but it’s as if it’s right at the base of the bottom middle of the neck and spine, where they would meet. But you don’t really feel anything physical, it isn’t ‘heard’ with your ears but you clearly hear it and you clearly feel it although you don’t physically feel it. And for me personally I mimic what a lot of people say in that it happens when I’m hungry, that’s what makes me think maybe it’s possibly microbiome related. But also sometimes it happens when I’m not hungry, but not usually. And it doesn’t happen very often, sometimes many many months apart. But then sometimes a few times in the same week.

What’s really freaked me out is that the past 2 weeks I’ve been taking the supplement boswellia serrata which is known for its strong anti-microbial, anti-viral, antibiotic potential (also an anti-inflammatory, I am taking it for joint problems). And a lot of ginger because a strong ginger extract is included in the capsules, which is also known to be anti-microbial and viral. But since that time I’ve been experiencing it a LOT more if I do not eat. More frequently than I ever have in my entire life since it’s started, more consistently, closer together, all across these 2 weeks, which makes me think even more that it’s potentially a microbe, bacteria, virus, mold, autoimmune reaction, who knows. But it can’t be a coincidence…
 
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Yourenotcrazy

macrumors newbie
Sep 25, 2022
1
3
After reading all your "me too, I thought I was the only one" posts, and ignoring all the energy/clairvoyance/mockery/funny posts, a pattern seems to emerge: hunger/reflux, early in the morning or after prolonged fast periods, the sizzling seems to come from the base of the skull (were it connects to the neck).

Before becoming a neurologist, I trained as an internist, and although a gastroenterologist might shed some more light, I think I know what this is.

The sizzling comes from tinny gas bubbles slipping from your stomach up through the esophagus and into your throat. It is here (the back of your throat, deep in your neck) that the sound gets amplified/transmitted through the bone to your ears. And it seems to come from your spine because, surprise! Your esophagus and the posterior wall of your throat rests directly over your spine!

The provenance of the sound can not be exactly ascertained because of the site (inside your neck and deep into your thorax) it is produced in.

So, there you have it. Provided it is not too loud, Any other sound within your body (apply a tuning fork to your skull, for example) should be able to sort of drown this sizzle. Or drink some water, or eat something, hence "cleaning down" your esophagus.
This makes sense.

I want to be one more person to show anyone else coming to this thread there's more of us. It usually happens to me when I am in bed but sometimes while I am up. It goes away with food or water sometimes. And it has always scared me into thinking the worst about my nerves and spinal fluid.

Thanks to the original poster and everyone else for sharing.
 

sorgo †

Cancelled
Feb 16, 2016
2,871
7,046
I've been watching this thread for ages and never responded because what I have is not what I'd call a sizzling sound at all. Mine is like an electrical shock up the left side of my neck. I don't worry about it. It is a known side affect of taking Paxil. I've been on and off it for years. It's way better than being off Paxil. S
Had the same thing while on (and especially while weaning myself off of) Effexor—an SNRI, as opposed to your SSRI. The symptom is colloquially termed “brain zaps.”

Glad the meds are working out for you, but that was some of the nastiest poison I’ve ever been given.
 
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LV426

macrumors 68000
Jan 22, 2013
1,836
2,266
Okay, so I swear I'm not crazy.... or at least not TOO crazy. Anyway, today here at work, I'm talking to my team lead and my neck starts doing this sizzling thing. Right from the base of my neck where it meets the skull, there's this sizzly / tingly / think french fries in hot oil weird sound coming out... and he can hear it, too. He says he has the same thing.

I've googled, I've web-md'd, and I can't find crap on this. I've not asked my doctor about it, but I'm going to. Anyone else have this?

It's not a sound coming from bones, or from turning your head. Don't say arthritis, because that's not it either. It's like it comes right out of my spine. I'm 22, going on 23 on the 24th of this month... and these noises didn't really start until I was like 18 or 19. They usually come on when I'm super hungry. My stomach growls with hunger pain, and then I hear the sizzles.

So, do you have the same thing? Know what it is? Am I really crazy, or what?
Could be your Vagus Nerve, which has quite a spread. You know when your stomach starts gurgling because you're hungry? You can hear that, right? Well, I can sometimes hear it in the middle of my head as an accompanying sizzling noise. Doc told me there must be some slight interference between the nerves in my skull. I think he gets his kicks telling people things like that.
 

Jan P

macrumors newbie
Oct 9, 2022
1
1
Okay, so I swear I'm not crazy.... or at least not TOO crazy. Anyway, today here at work, I'm talking to my team lead and my neck starts doing this sizzling thing. Right from the base of my neck where it meets the skull, there's this sizzly / tingly / think french fries in hot oil weird sound coming out... and he can hear it, too. He says he has the same thing.

I've googled, I've web-md'd, and I can't find crap on this. I've not asked my doctor about it, but I'm going to. Anyone else have this?

It's not a sound coming from bones, or from turning your head. Don't say arthritis, because that's not it either. It's like it comes right out of my spine. I'm 22, going on 23 on the 24th of this month... and these noises didn't really start until I was like 18 or 19. They usually come on when I'm super hungry. My stomach growls with hunger pain, and then I hear the sizzles.

So, do you have the same thing? Know what it is? Am I really crazy, or what?
I've got the same thing, it only happens to me when I bend my head down and only when I am eating/hungry.
I've always had it since I can think
 
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compwiz1202

macrumors 604
May 20, 2010
7,389
5,739
I know i'm responding to a revived thread that's originally 14 years old but i've had this on and off for 40 years since I was a kid. And has others have observed (and has now been explained), it's nearly always in the morning after a fasting period.
As long as there's no solution presented, people need to keep asking. It's this one and the old one about someone dictatiing and the phone showing something totally different that I need to know the answers to :)
 
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BrieCott

macrumors newbie
Jan 23, 2023
1
1
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway. Don't Panic

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
excellent quote

yeah, so what i copy paste my phyllophy
this is going to sound creepy and serious.. but i have cut and paste Don't Panic's personality as at this juncture i same my comedic energy for parties [ALCOHOL MAKES ME DANE COOK] i've been told so from my friends/people before knew who he was... trust me. i am funny
i command you to dance! ..
now for some weirdo ****..

23 23 23 lol reference to jim carrey movie 23



here's a message to Don't panic:
first of all i hope don't panic is a reference to A Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy (ectremely funny/ philosophical book)

i'm 29, when i first heard the neck soda i thought i was crazy. it was in august 2005. i know this because i have confirmed it with files on my computer...
so i was about 24. i didn't read all of the forum but people seem to be fascinated with the numbers 23 24 25 ect.

ANY WAY [this is the interesting part]

1.) I get the neck soda sound when my stomach is empty.

2.) I have also correlated this with / assumed it was spinal fluid

3.) I have acid reflux disease. (although the sound isn't audible through my mouth only my neck [hence reverberation through my skull])

4.) I was 24 years old [I try not to believe in strange patterns that may be an assumption of what i have been taught through external stimuli i.e. the number 24 ect.] but it's interesting

5.) someone also mentioned blood pressure and or (in his roommate's case)
lack of oxygen in his cardiovascular system i.e. IM A CHAIN SMOKER
(also one of the causes of acid reflux .. the other = alcohol)
another words lack of oxygen to your blood

6.) NOW THIS PART IS CREEPY...


ok..
the first time i heard this soda sound where my neck meets my skull i was falling asleep, about 24 (i know this because i have checked computer files of songs i have written)
ANYWAY!!

i was falling asleep (drug free mind you)
.. and daydreaming into sleep (dazing off thinking of randon ****)

and i thought about "THE MATRIX" (daydreaming, brain storming, falling asleep, ect. )
and simultaneously (LITERALLY, the exact moment after the thought, I RANDOMLY out of no where thought about the matrix)
and simultaneously after the thought my neck for the first time made that soda noise as i call it.

well, for a brief moment it scared the living **** out of me, i thought i was schizophrenic or that the matrix was real for a moment, and that it was "the matrix" communicating to feed my body.

CRAZIER THAN DOGGSHIT RIGHT? lol
well that was for a split moment and i immediately told myself if "The Matrix tm were / weren't real that it wouldn't matter cause i have no control over it"

coincidentally, and this is just further discrediting my self / character...
2 years prior to this i was in a public library [researching/ surfing ect. ]
and i went to google or some search engine... humoring myself. joking typing up a search asking "is the matrix real" or some thing along those lines.
literally talking to "The Matrix" HUMORING MYSELF i might remind you.

and LITERALLY simultaneously the library lights flickered and the library announced on the speaker that "the library had 5 mins till close"

seemingly strange to me ..
but it was a Sunday and they closed 4 hrs early on Sundays.

LOL
the only point is that these are interesting stories and I don't claim to believe in crazy ****.

i love how Don't Panic stated on this topic in a couple lines "

"I do not believe in lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape. "

im not saying i believe in anything... i don't confirm nor deny existence.
lol
for example:
the universe is LITERALLY holographic in nature.. like the matrix.

centrifugal force holds atoms together... its the reason we are not "ghosts" and fall through the floor or coffee table.

in lamen's terms think about north and south pole on a magnet.
imagine how everything (atoms/ molecules) vibrate to stay together.

comedy Bill Hicks said :
"Today, a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. There's no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we're the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather."

E=MC2
energy= mass times light speed
matter..space time
there is space . time
and there is spacetime
donnie darko

check out college lectures on "super string theory the dna of reality"


a wise man once said: "i don't believe in many things, i don't believe in duct tape."
but seriously that whole thing is not bull ****, it happened to me and i consider it coincidence. and or trippy
Yo I think about that type of **** all day sometimes. You the best for real. We should connect.
 
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NeckSizzleSister

macrumors newbie
Sep 6, 2023
1
3
Greetings to those of you still living,

I, too, have the sizzle where the base of the skull meets the neck. It is distinctly a sizzle. It is not a pop or a crack or a creak or a snap. It is undoubtedly a sizzle. I am a sizzle sister.

I was searching the interwebz as follow-up on my latest hypothesis of what will certainly be my demise when I came upon this thread. I believe my neck began sizzling yesterday. The sound is akin to the sound of an Applebee’s Sizzlin’ Skillet fresh out of the kitchen. I have a history of chronic cervicalgia and tension migraines. No previous injury or known physical abnormality aside from tight, banded muscles.

I read a comment with a very logical argument indicating the origin of the sizzle is likely gastric bubbles escaping the stomach traveling up the esophagus and resonating sounds of their release at the top of the neck. The commenter noted the sound often coincides with hunger or recently eating.

Perhaps not ironically, I have had a lot of stomach issues the past two weeks. I’ve vomited twice. My mouth has felt like it is constantly burning for the past week. It hurts. I don’t belch often, but I did twice today and with it came the flow of stomach acid like hot lava up and down the esophagus and back into the stomach. My esophagus and neck has been in a slow sizzle state all day.

I suppose in lieu of fretting about my demise and getting my affairs in order, I could spend a fortnight consuming daily omeprazole. Perhaps I am not dying after all. The emesis and Flaming Hot Cheeto tongue would corroborate a reflux diagnosis.

I should be forthcoming though. As OP and many others have done, it is highly probable this will be the last you hear from me. Now that I’ve essentially enshrined my ailments in a word vomit post and have determined I am either suffering from reflux or I am dying, there won’t be much of a need for me to return. You may be left wondering my fate and just like the others, it will remain a mystery.

Farewell.
 
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PermaFried

macrumors newbie
Sep 11, 2023
1
1
Greetings to those of you still living,

I, too, have the sizzle where the base of the skull meets the neck. It is distinctly a sizzle. It is not a pop or a crack or a creak or a snap. It is undoubtedly a sizzle. I am a sizzle sister.

I was searching the interwebz as follow-up on my latest hypothesis of what will certainly be my demise when I came upon this thread. I believe my neck began sizzling yesterday. The sound is akin to the sound of an Applebee’s Sizzlin’ Skillet fresh out of the kitchen. I have a history of chronic cervicalgia and tension migraines. No previous injury or known physical abnormality aside from tight, banded muscles.

I read a comment with a very logical argument indicating the origin of the sizzle is likely gastric bubbles escaping the stomach traveling up the esophagus and resonating sounds of their release at the top of the neck. The commenter noted the sound often coincides with hunger or recently eating.

Perhaps not ironically, I have had a lot of stomach issues the past two weeks. I’ve vomited twice. My mouth has felt like it is constantly burning for the past week. It hurts. I don’t belch often, but I did twice today and with it came the flow of stomach acid like hot lava up and down the esophagus and back into the stomach. My esophagus and neck has been in a slow sizzle state all day.

I suppose in lieu of fretting about my demise and getting my affairs in order, I could spend a fortnight consuming daily omeprazole. Perhaps I am not dying after all. The emesis and Flaming Hot Cheeto tongue would corroborate a reflux diagnosis.

I should be forthcoming though. As OP and many others have done, it is highly probable this will be the last you hear from me. Now that I’ve essentially enshrined my ailments in a word vomit post and have determined I am either suffering from reflux or I am dying, there won’t be much of a need for me to return. You may be left wondering my fate and just like the others, it will remain a mystery.

Farewell.
I, too, am joining the likes of the SizzleSisters.

I've had the sizzle for a very long time. Possibly since my teenage years, but my memory surrounding the sizzle is a bit fuzzy. It's been a minimum of 10 years since I first experienced this phenomenon, of that I am certain.

I'm fairly confident that the neck sizzling can be attributed to gas bubbles traversing upwards through the esophagus, as previously explained in this thread.

Just like many if you, I experience the sound when my stomach is empty and I'm famished. Typically it occurs when I first wake up.

I felt compelled to contribute my testimony to this evergrowing thread, perhaps in part to keep the tradition alive. Let the record show that I am indeed one of the sizzling populace.
 
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SizzlingNeckHaver

macrumors newbie
Mar 1, 2024
1
0
Hello Everyone!

I have some information that could be useful.


I have also experienced this phenomena for as long as I can remember.
A fizzing or sizzling sound, like pop rocks or pressurised fluid in the top of my neck around the base of the skull.

I'd like to touch on a few things and propose some questions to all of you who still watch this thread.

The fizzing used to only happen when I was hungry, synchronised perfectly with stomach grumbling, most commonly in the morning. Much like a lot of you have mentioned. So I think we can safely say: It is at least partially related to some sort of autonomic nervous signal for hunger or digestion.
I've suffered with unexplained neurological symptoms for some time now. In 2017 I had a head MRI that showed signs of increased intracranial pressure (report attached). This could very well be related and may be a clue to finding a cause of the sounds we're all experiencing.

About a year ago I started experiencing worsening neck pain, crepitus and neurological symptoms that seem to be cervicogenic(originating from the cervical spine, numbness and tingling across my body, mostly in the right side now) and with those symptoms the fizzing has gotten louder and more frequent. I am convinced the sound is CSF related; And most likely due to inflammation, CSF pressure or structural issues/variants in the neck. I have seen vague mentions of sounds like this in the neck from patients suffering from CSF leaks as well. I don't have a current diagnosis yet, but I do have a full spine MRI on the way and I will update you all with the report if there is any significant findings.

Now onto the questions. It would be amazing if we could find any common ground and try to narrow down the cause of this sizzling.

- Do you have any neck pain, neurological symptoms or vision problems?
- Do you have digestive issues? (E.g. Gluten intolerance, IBS, Crohn's, Colitis)
- Are you overweight?
- Do you have postural issues, spine problems or do you sit down for long periods of time due to work or a hobby?
- Were you a caesarean(C-section) birth?
- Are you diagnosed with any developmental disorders such as Autism or ADHD?
- Do you have any Hypermobility Disorder Or EDS?
 

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