I can only guess from my DH. That so many of the things we do in a day, walking, talking, sitting, eating we do without thinking about it. They have to think of every act, how to do it. Just very taxing for their poor brain.
Jazzy, I continue to be amazed at how creative your DHs mind is. Even this far into dementia. I can relate to this feeling he is expressing. I am a computer programmer. At one point I had to work with database engineers to develop a complex database design. It stretched over several months. We would meet for several hours each day. After these meetings my brain was physically tired. It was like the nerve endings were drooping And thoughts were taking too long to get to where they belonged! I found that broccoli helped when my brain was physically tired. Brussels Sprouts were what I craved when my thinking was going too slow. I read somewhere that this made complete sense based on the minerals in those veggies.
Jazzy, he may be working very hard to try and stay functional and stay himself. He may be doing all kinds of things in his mind to do that like repetitive reminding and verification of things and context for what is happening. He's definitely a strong willed person and it's almost certain he will be holding on to everything he can no matter how much work it is in his brain.
It could very well be. He keeps telling me that he wants to maintain his independence for as long as he can. He also has trouble formulating spoken conversation where he has to explain what he means but will sit down at his computer and over a time will put out a very well versed communication. He still wants to talk for himself but part way through the conversation will turn to me and get me to finish things for him. It's like he just doesn't have the energy but a few minutes later he will try again. I usually just wait until he looks at me with that frustrated look and then step up and help with the conversation. Usually it has to do with instructions. It's like he looses his page in his book. He is trying so hard.
Just spoke to a geriatric nurse who knows my DH and she has told me this is a common complaint of someone with dementia. As someone here said the body gets exhausted with hard work, so does the brain and for someone with dementia it really is hard on them. He just try's so hard to remember and use the brain as he did that it just can't cope.
I just found out today that the " my brain is tired" is happening more and more often. Twice a day now and he has to sleep for an hour or more each time. I saw him holding his head today and asked what was wrong. He said " my brain is tired. I need to go and sleep, then I will be better". He went and slept for a little over an hour, then just over two ours later it happened again. This time he slept about an hour and a half.
Without much going on around here, I was watching the video that Joan put on the main page. "Introduction to Alzheimer's Disease". I am amazed at how it so accurately describes my Dear Helen's journey. From what you've been telling us about your Dear Life's Partner, it certainly applies to him as well. They say that each Alzheimer's case is different but it must be that some things are all the same.
Jazzy............It's on the first page you get when you come to this site. Before you click to get on the message boards. Just scroll down a little further. It appears as a yellow rectangle.