Conversing with herself, in two voices

WorkWithWhatYaGot

I would like to read about this topic, but it is hard to search.  Not actionable, probably, as her liver function is poor (liver met from a fast progressing, neuroendocrine cancer with an unknown primary) and so doubtful she could handle meds. But I benefit from reading about other people's experiences all the same.  

PWD is talking to herself, loudly, angrily  -  in two different voices.  Staff can hear this outside in the hall, but they report that they only hear nonsensical phrases, incomplete thoughts.  She may be talking to a beloved stuffed bunny; she has told me recently that the bunny "can be annoying."

PWD becomes cheerful, alert, when they come in to check on her, even if she is in the middle of one of these conversations. This, plus no strong odor or cloudiness in the urine, means they do not suspect a UTI.  

She used to talk to herself as a way to "coach" herself through something difficult, like changing clothes. She needs help for that now.  Also new, are incontinence and weekly falls. 

I have not heard these angry conversations for myself, but I have been there when PWD had visual hallucinations. These did not distress her.  I am not sure what to call a conversation with 2 voices, psychosis? 

It some ways, it all seems like Alz progression, but it could all be the liver.  Any similar experiences?  

May flowers

My FIL does this sometimes, it’s a little unnerving to listen to. One of the voices is the authority, angry, ridiculing, and bossy, and the other is very timid, almost childlike. Sometimes the timid voice makes a crying noise, but not actually crying. Anyway, there are whole conversations between the two, even though much of it is nonsensical, with the bossy voice chiding the other for both doing something. 

I almost think he is reliving exchanges like would have happened when he was a child, but I don’t know of anyone in his life who would have talked to him like that. Who knows.

Dio

OMG, I thought I was the only one who went through this. It happened only once around midnight and lasted over an hour. I was scared to my bones. DH was speaking in 3 different voices, one his own, one was deep and throaty, but the third was higher pitched sinister creepy--not only to each other, but also to me! I recorded some of it but have not been able to listen to these recordings. It was like a scene from a horror movie. This was the start of our journey down this rabbit hole. None of the doctors or psychiatrists who treated him wanted to address this at all. In the morning, he remembered some but not all of the incident. He claimed to have been "playacting."

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May flowers

LDio, the first time I heard it, I asked the hospice nurse if they had any exorcists on staff! I was joking of course (dark humor), but it for sure was creepy.

Dio

May Flowers, I wasn't kidding when I wanted an exorcist. I had called my BIL, who's Catholic, and he came over to stay with me just in case something were to happen, as he's bigger and can out maneuver my DH. He said he's never seen anything like it. While I was fumbling with my cellphone trying to call my BIL, the creepy voice said, "That's right, call the priest (referring to my BIL)." How did "it" know who I was trying to reach on my phone?

ZackFootInMouth

I do this at times: an enunciated slow voice, a fast talker with a broad lexicon... It's a form of compartmentalized self therapy to turn my anxiety off (I casually speak with a drawl and stutter) and bring focus onto a single task (I typically talk in a blur with my friends, and to strangers I will slow down and enunciate).

My parents had an "indoor voice" and an "outdoor voice". My father gradually lost their outside voice and just barked loudly at everyone and everything. My mother is unconsciously switching between "polite city speak" and "native tongue with drawl" at various points (confusing the heck out of doctors when she drops her English without a beat). Likely a breakdown of that veil of "outside" versus "inside" speak. (An escaped inner monologue of sorts.)

​fesk

When my mother suffered a decline, she started talking/arguing with herself or others. She didn't use different voices though. It was mostly not nice comments/angry. And, yes, it was mostly when she was alone. Medication helped to quiet this for her.