Thinks everyone steals from her

Suesatt

My Mother has moderate Alzheimer’s and has been living with us for five months now. Before living with us Mom lived in a 55+apartment building just a few minutes from us. 

I received a call from the police department, and I was told that my Mom keeps calling them saying that people are coming into her apartment and stealing from her, but when they show up, they are able to find the missing items for her.

So now she's with us and soon after she moved in she started asking me what I did with this or that because it's not in her room and infers that I took it. When this happens, I will tell her I'll help her find it and I'll find it and sometimes even accuse me of planting it when I find it. This happens every single day and it's getting worse and it's getting harder for me to stay calm because she's getting more and more agitated, and I can no longer just say nothing. 

We have given her so much and this is affecting both me and my husband.

Does anyone else experience this with their LO? If so, how do you deal with it?

Rick4407

Tonight there are several posts of others with the same problem, no control of behaviors.  This will get worse.   If you wait longer it will be a 911 call and a hospital stay to get her stabilized.  You need to be in touch with a geri-psych to get meds to help her.  Rick

Ed1937

She has something in her hand, and puts it on the table in the other room. But she doesn't remember putting it there. So she had it, and now it's gone. Somebody must have taken it. That is their logic. It's not her fault. It's the disease acting. Next time she accuses you of taking something, just tell her you took it in to get fixed. You'll pick it up tomorrow. Then change the subject. Talk to her for a while about anything except the thing that is missing. She'll forget all about it -- until next time. Then you do it all over again. They have a hard time thinking about more than one thing at a time. That's why you change the subject. Redirect her. It helps.

M1

Hi Sue. This is in fact very typical. She would probably benefit from both medication to calm the agitation as well as behavioral techniques to redirect, as ed says. Medication will improve everyone's quality of life. Is memory care on your radar?

Suesatt

I should have mentioned in my initial text that she has been taking medication for anxiety and agitation but it hasn't helped much. I talked to the Doctor and they gave her something stronger and so far it hasn't made a change.

Honestly, I don't know how much more I can handle, she huffs and puffs and then gets very angry.  It makes our home very uncomfortable. I can see it effecting my husband and it's put a bit of a strain on us.

Iris L.

Read about anosognosia.   She is not aware that she is forgetting and losing things.  But don't try to correct her!

Iris