Is believing someone has stolen something a sign of memory issues?

Yes, very common behavior that is part of dementia/cognitive impairment.

"What if it was happening long before reaching old age?" Then this is a separate problem, like a personality disorder or mental illness.

"I've decided I don't want to get old, can I stop it? This last comment is just humoring myself, but I'm not looking forward to stuff happening to me as I age."

My 104-yr old Aunt has all her mind. It doesn't happen to everyone. Her sister had dementia for 12+ years and lived to be almost 101. Don't worry about whether you will inherit it, either. For certain dementias, even if your family carries the gene it still has to be passed on to you.

Don't worry about stuff that hasn't happened. Knowlege and then reasonable preparation is as much as one can do.

My mom thinks people break in her room at her memory care, and steal everything, including her Depends and toilet paper! I order her specialty cookies a couple times a month, and she swears the employees and other residents steal them. One of the employees told me today that mom is so sweet, and that she gives the cookies away to the people who work there. I’ve learned not to argue with her, which is one of the hardest things I’ve learned to do. If I do, it makes things worse, and upsets us both. I’ve learned that in her mind, she truly believes her thoughts are real, and in mine, I think she wants me to believe her place is so terrible, that I should take her home with me. Even though she has dementia, she can be very manipulative. I’m trying not to worry about the aging process, but be thankful that I’m able to have the privilege of watching over my mom, even though she drives me nuts sometimes. I’m sure I drove her nuts sometimes as I was growing up. Her 91st birthday is tomorrow, and I’m thankful she’s still with us & very healthy. Don’t be afraid of the aging process- embrace every minute of it, and have fun. Wish I’d told myself that years ago! Good luck, and God Bless

We see many people posting on this topic, lost objects and presuming that someone took the objects. It’s sad.

I don’t think anyone can convince someone of something that they don’t want to believe when dementia is involved. So, what can you do other than reassure them as much as you can. Or try to redirect the conversation to something else.

Hey, if you figure out how not to age and not be troubled by getting older, let us in on it! 😊

I think they hide things because they think something they care about might be stolen, then they forget where they put it and decide that someone else took it. I think this happens as they begin to realize that they are slipping, but they do not want to believe that they are slipping so when it becomes lost, they have to blame someone else. I also think that this "losing things" happens as they are experiencing other signs of dementia/Alzheimers/old age (whatever you choose to call it). Nothing happens in a vacuum. If you see signs that someone's personality is changing, even subtle signs, get them to a doctor. Waiting does not make things better and getting a diagnosis can help slow or stop the problem depending on what it is.

Yes, especially for cleaning staff or “some” caregivers. As most people on this forum we’ve had lots of different caregivers. Anyways, my mom said the cleaning people stole her makeup. She bought 3 of the same thing, so she’d have it. Then 2 disappeared, and she told the head of the cleaning crew, things seemed to go missing. Then the last one disappeared. I had my doubts about this, it wasn’t expensive.
Then, she said her hair clips went missing. I found them in the bathroom, and showed them to her. I said, “here they are”. She said that’s not the kind I like. That kind of sums up this type of ongoing behavior pattern.

This is very common even with elderly people who don’t have dementia but especially with those that do. My grandfather used to accuse us grandkids of stealing all the time. My aunt used to borrow my other aunt’s books and then when my aunt took them back accused her of stealing them.

Like other people have said, they lose things or hide things and automatically assume someone stole them. My sister gives mom her pills every week and when mom can’t find them she accuses her of stealing them. Why would you steal pills when you are the one distributing them? If she wanted to steal them she could do it without giving them to mom in the first place. It doesn’t even make any sense.

Also, giving or throwing away stuff and then saying it has been stolen also is common. One time mom got on this kick of cleaning up and she threw away all of her photo albums. She didn’t just throw them away but also tore up and destroyed a lot of them. It was very sad when we went to visit and found them all destroyed in the trash. We fished out what we could and kept them for ourselves. We never told her we found them or that we have what was left. She always talks about how someone took them all. We don’t even bother to correct her other than to ask who could have come to take the photos and why anyone would bother to take those.

It’s crazy stuff sometimes: bandaids, phone charger, pens, scissors, prescription glasses, remote control, Oreo cookies, whatever. Her default is “Someone got it.” We know no one did because there is a cam at the house and no one came. Sometimes we find it, sometimes we don’t. She lost $150 cash which she NEEDED to have and claims we never gave it to her. It has never turned up. She probably threw it away or hid it. We don’t give her cash anymore.

When she was away for a while we cleaned up her place and found a stash of vitamins and pills in her dresser BEHIND the drawers. These are pills she had been looking for a long time and claims someone stole.

She bought tires for my sister’s car, which was very nice of her but when she saw her bank statement she flipped out. She said she never did that. She did. I was there. I heard her say she was going to several times. I don’t accept any gifts from her and I advise my siblings not to either but some of them still don’t listen. They will eventually be accused of stealing from her. She thinks we have all stolen money from her. She even told the police that.

It is tiresome and hurtful. We are limiting contact with her because no one wants to be accused all of the time. It doesn’t get better. I would like to think we can try to be more aware of it as we get older and at least less prone to hurtful accusations but who knows?

When my mother was about 2 years into her dementia journey, she insisted the "thieving caregivers" at her AL had stolen the sterling heart necklace I'd given her with dad's CREMAINS inside. She told all the gossiping old ladies at dinner the horrid story of the theft, and suddenly, they too had "stolen" items missing from their apartments!!!! They all marched themselves into Jeremy's office, the poor Executive Director, and told their story of being ROBBED by the staff, with my mother speaking for one and all. Jeremy told them there was nothing he could do personally about heresay w/o evidence, but they should call the sheriff for an investigation.

The old ladies all left in a huff and mom thought the matter was finished. It wasn't. One of the other ladies DID call the sheriff, who came to the AL and knocked on my mother's door with the ED in tow. She had a meltdown and sputtered that nothing was missing from her apartment and proceeded to slam the door and call ME.

I told her nothing was stolen, who'd want ASHES of a dead man in a necklace for petesake? I told her she'd misplaced it, which she vehemently denied., accusing me of "always being against her" which was one of her favorite lines. So why, then, mother, did you SLAM THE DOOR in the sheriff's face if you were robbed? Snicker.

The next day I showed up at her apartment. I pulled out her giant jewelry box from the closet, opened the lid, and guess what was staring me in the face? The "stolen" silver heart necklace with dad's cremains in it. Right where she PUT it. Sigh.

One of many stories about many "thefts" over the years of dealing with dementia.

Btw, my mother was a sun worshipper (who was lucky not to have gotten melanoma) who ate healthy foods her whole life, walked a ton, maintained a healthy weight, never smoked, and still died of advanced dementia.

I often think somebody has stolen something if it's gone missing. It's my automatic default response. At least I know that about myself and can compensate

My Dad constantly Lost items such as his phone, Bicycle, Laptop, ring , etc. One phone showed up In the freezer , His ring was found a Year later under the Bathroom sink , The Laptop between a stack Of magazines . Yes it is common .

It happens, and unfortunately, it can end up creating a very bad family situation. My sister was accused of stealing from my aunt, and as it turns out, my aunt had given away several things in her earlier years but, of course, didn't remember that. She said such horrible things to my sister and won't apologize (because she still believes these things were stolen). Now there is no way to mend the relationship. It's a shame because there are only 5 of us in the family, to begin with. The rest of us fear helping as we should because we could just as easily be accused of stealing.