I am not a bottle of soda

June 20, 2017 4:04 PM

I am not a bottle of soda... so why does the back of my neck fizz? In the last few months I've started feeling/hearing a fizzing at the base of my skull where it meets my neck. Now it happens maybe a few times a week. Google has revealed nothing. Why am I suddenly carbonated?
posted by bizarrenacle to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

It's likely the sound of your spinal fluid moving around, and generally harmless unless you're experiencing other symptoms like pain, dizziness, etc. (i.e. stuff that would warrant a doctor visit even without the noise).
posted by AzraelBrown at 4:12 PM on June 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Is THAT what that is?? I get that sometimes when I'm lying down. And now I'm both fascinated and creeped out to know what it is.
posted by sarcasticah at 5:28 PM on June 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

I KNOW we've talked about this at some point on the green....maybe someone can find it faster than I can? For me, the brain fizz is associated with being hungry.
posted by guster4lovers at 12:40 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

I KNOW we've talked about this at some point on the green....maybe someone can find it faster than I can? For me, the brain fizz is associated with being hungry.

Many people in the Reddit thread linked by AzraelBrown report a similar association with hunger (which I've been looking for for years) and we did indeed have a long and contentious AskMe about this in (I thought, but now doubt) late 2005 - early 2006, in which the bubbling was reported by a chiropractor and the asker was asking whether that was possible.

I tried finding it by looking through the comment history of someone I was fairly sure had participated, but did not come up with it.
posted by jamjam at 9:31 AM on June 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks guys. Seems like the real answer is "nobody knows for sure." When AzraelBrown mentioned csf, I looked it up and couldn't find anything conclusive either way about whether that can cause this sound.
posted by bizarrenacle at 4:13 PM on June 21, 2017