Stealing

[sweetheart55]

HI my mum was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014, she is now 87 my .dad 91 has Parkinsons so I .moved in with them in December just gone, my mum is convinced that she has been away and someone has stolen stuff she never even owned eg, 9 radios, 6 bedroom clocks, dozens of cups, books now today it's 6 TELEVISIONS, I struggle with all this any tips would he appreciated.

 

[Duggies-girl]

You won't convince her it's not true.

Perhaps you could tell her the police have been informed or something similar. Sorry you are having to deal with this.

 

[canary]

This delusion is so common with dementia its almost diagnostic

As Duggies-girl said, any attempt at reasoning and trying to persuade her that she is wrong will just be met with anger and she will dig her heels in - perhaps even believing that you are in with it! - as she really believes that it is being stolen.
Basically, you will not be able to bring her back into reality, you have to enter hers.
Try changing the subject and distracting her every time she starts on this - although this doesnt work with everyone.
Try telling her that the police are investigating/you will set a trap for the thieves/you are sorting it out - anything that will pacify her and keep repeating it.

 

[Rosettastone57]

HI my mum was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2014, she is now 87 my .dad 91 has Parkinsons so I .moved in with them in December just gone, my mum is convinced that she has been away and someone has stolen stuff she never even owned eg, 9 radios, 6 bedroom clocks, dozens of cups, books now today it's 6 TELEVISIONS, I struggle with all this any tips would he appreciated.

As others have said this is all part and parcel of the disease. My MIL often says the carer is taking things or swapping things. Her latest is that the bed sheet which is blue has been swapped for a paler version when the carer changed her bedding. Of course this hasn't happened but she can't remember what her sheet used to look like. So in her mind someone has replaced it. How I got round this was to say that the carers had brought in a new sheet and had given me the other one which I am going to launder for her. On this occasion this worked with her but it isn't easy. I had to tell the care agency about these allegations to keep them updated and give them an idea as to how to deal with these. I try to distract her but sometimes you have to think on your feet. When she asked me why the garage key fob had been changed by the gardener I just said it was me to make it easy for me to see it against the wallpaper.