My dh has such a hard time expressing himself. Some days are worse than other. I spent the better part of the morning looking for a red "thing", the size of a bar of soap which he claims I removed from the bathroom. I suggested all sorts of things. Finally I said it would turn up when we weren't looking for it. It is possible he is not saying the right color. I will have to test him to see what he has forgotten. He is very proud and won't admit to not remembering when asked so I try not to ask "do you remember?" I feel so helpless when I can't figure what he is talking about. Our conversations are so basic. I asked him to bring up a can of tomato soup from the basement. He brought 2 cans of chicken noodle. Next time he went down I asked for the tomato soup again and he brought up. It reminds me of when I had toddlers. Couldn't give long-winded directions; just short sentences. Gone are adjectives and flowery sentences.
He sleeps so much, at least 7 hrs. at night. One hour after reading the paper in the morning. Two hours in early afternoon after lunch and again before dinner. Then he naps in the evening for at least another hour or two. In bed by 10 pm. At this point, he doesn't require a lot of care, can take care of himself, doesn't drive but has no hobbies. Looks at the paper; I know he doesn't comprehend what he reads. Physically he is in good health. Has a defibrillator which has never gone off (thank God), bp is good, no diabetis so the constant napping seems odd to me. He has a physical next week so anemia will be checked. All his friends have gone and we have no family in the immediate area. It seems I can't stimulate him at all...never was a social butterfly. Takes no meds that cause drowsiness. Will mention all this to the dr. but I don't expect he will be able to answer. He isn't interested in doing anything fun so traveling is out. I really feel alone. He always went to church and was very devout. Now he won't go with me anymore.
Everything you describe is typical of Alzheimer's Disease. Sleeping a lot; loss of interest in doing things; difficulty with expressive language. Many, many of our spouses have been through everything you are saying. They will be along to tell their stories soon, I am sure.
SEVEN hours of sleep a night is NOT excessive. AT ALL. I sleep more than that! Eight to ten hours is about normal for our guys. Plus naps throughout the day.. When my DH was alive, I invested in a library of books on the disease, not looking for a cure, but learning more about the disease, what to expect and how to be the best caregiver that I could be. All of them mentioned the extended sleep patterns, and the speech difficulties, more so when they were tired. It's the disease, my friend. As Briegull often says, "It IS what it IS!"
My dh sleeps about 12 hours most nights..not too many naps during the day.. Lack of interest in things...might call the guys for a guy day and then the next morning not want to go I find I am now having to explain things he reads which is really sad as he was a voracious reader with a 5 dollar vocabulary. Sees a tv show and then the rerun starts right after it finishes and he doesn't realize he has just seen it. Sense of humor is good, very good. we do manage to have lots of giggles..
I have a coaster and when something goes wrong. I tell him " it is not your fault, I was just planning to blame you"....then he just tosses his head back and laughs..the other one that gets his funny bone is the coaster that says " God loves you, but I'm his favorite." We used to joke with the girls that " you are my favorite daughter." and they all believe they were the only one being told that until they were adults and they discovered we told that to each of them when the others were not around...they all laugh about that one.
Yesterday he asked about this ALZ..said it is a terrible thing to be told you have...do I really have it he asks..I said yes...then I said that once you have met a person with ALZ you have met only one person with ALZ since they are all different, and that he is doing very well...and in many ways he is with the math and spatial issues...just can't recall things told earlier..but he does understand what he is told. I find it interesting what areas of the brain function highly while others slip..
I find my hubby needs more sleep if he's had more social involvement with people. Sundays after church he needs a long nap. Ditto after family gatherings. I think the effort to try and understand all the conversations etc drains him. Mind you,fatigue has been a part of his life for a long time due to other health problems. What I notice now though is he can't bounce back as well if our routine changes. Once he gets out of his regular sleep pattern, it also takes him awhile to get caught up on sleep. When he is short of sleep, it can sometimes be like a preschooler or toddler who really needs a nap but won't give in and have one. If he's really "off" his regular sleep quota, he can sometimes end up not sleeping well at night ie will wake up after 2 or 3 hours and not get back to sleep for 3 or so hours. He can be very restless in bed when that happens. (Translated that means I don't get such a good night's rest either).
When daily routine is fairly regular, he sleeps about 9 hours at night and has an hour or two nap in afternoon. If he gets really overtired, he needs a few nights of more sleep and some longer naps.
My Dh has made up a language of his own. Since he has never learned any other language only english it's a puzzle to me. He will speak this language to anyone at the store the bank and especially to little children then he just laughs. He talks to anyone anywhere but then usually adds this to it. I've not seen this on this site but maybe someone else has had this happen to their LO. this disease has so many twists and turns!
My two group members have the same thing with their DH' I was told it is called " aphasia" and there are different types. Look it up on line. They go through the same thing you describe, Shirley, and the DH's get very frustrated and so do the caregivers. My DH has a little but not much yet.
Yes, my h had expressive and receptive aphasia. The receptive was linked to the seizure disorder and the expressive to ftd. He was saying something that I believed he understood. It seemed very well thought out. To him, but just sad to me.