Where is my key's? Where is....????????

What if you give her some keys? Put them on her key chain or whatever. Give her several keys, several purses, and chiclets in her med bottles. I wouldn't be able to put up with the constant chatter. Good luck.

At least you was brave enough to take the keys, I guess I was scaired of the cause/effect, action/reaction (she's very mean these days..lol)...but now since the hearing, and she's deemed incompetent..the state took her license...Hurray!!!

Chicago 1954 has a good idea. Also, try distracting her. "Mom, I'll look for them in a minute. First, would you look at this picture?" or something other than the keys.

Also Dysfunctional Family Bingo - Google it! Keep a tally of how many episodes in a day, and at night reward yourself with that many M&M's, or that many ML's of wine, or that many minutes in a bathtub with candles. Make it a game by keeping statistics for a month or so.

Mostly, don't let it get to you. It is going to happen. She can't stop it. You can't stop it, Chuckle and go on. Secretly straighten your house while you pretend to look for the keys. Easy to say and hard to do, but TRY for the sake of your sanity.

You need something that you can spring on her when she is looking for something--something that she loves and will surprise her but not scare her--ummm, one of those stupid singing fish from years back? A stuffed dog dressed like Elvis that sings "Ain't Nothin' but a Hound Dog" ? A card that plays the chicken dance? Something to really snap her out of her intent.

I am sorta kidding sorta not. Of course you run the risk of being driven crazy by a singing fish.....

Hang in there. (((hugs)))

When Mom is having one of those days I tell her....Mom, if you ask me that one more time...the HAT is going on. Then I check on her a little while later, wearing our "remember...Life's a party" hat and she laughs and doesn't ask again.( See my pic for me and Mom in our "Party" hats.)

Thanks, everyone!!... Chicago1954, great idea, thank you!! :)

Oh, BoniChak --I have been thinking that you spiked your hair and your Mom's hair into faux hawks-fake Mohawks !!! I thought that was so funny!!! The party hats are adorable too!! But I still like to think you and your Mom are going punk! :0)

BoniChak, all this time I also thought you purposely spiked your hair to look alike...

Boni.....I thought the same thing as bookluvr......a Mohawk......your picture is adorable....either way......I think you n your mom could rock a Mohawk, though.....

Krazy8's, my dad did the same thing to my mom. He was 65 and had survived cancer twice and was in stage 4 heart failure with vascular demenita when he passed. He would go into the living room and ask my mom: "Where is Walter?" He would look all over the house for Walter.
Walter was my dad's pet name for his gun. Mom always said, "if I didn't hide that thing, God knows what he would do."

Praise God other people have the same problems I do! I too would recommend giving her some keys, but did you ever ask her what she needs them for? Does she want to drive or is she wanting to lock up the house? I would just want to watch to make sure she doesn't break them off in a lock. Be prepared however for her losing those fake keys and you spending the day looking for the fake ones. Maybe you could make up a couple sets like we use to do with pacifiers for our children.

My mother always wants her checkbook which I had to take away sometime back. I have her POA so I handle all finances but she wants that checkbook, so I made her a duplicate of the one I have, minus the checks, which still ticks her off. She was taking the checkbook and hiding it and then screaming at me wanting to know where it was. Finally I had enough and said, "NO MORE!" It is hard sticking to your guns when you have a dementia parent who seems to be rational at times and other times a raving angry maniac. A therapist told me to learn to deflect or focus her attention on something else, which does not always work but it is worth a try.

my husband (ALZ-82) is just like you describe, every day it is the keys keys keys, I moved his car for 2 weeks ( as was suggested on this forum) he never noticed then the day I planned on putting it up for sale, all hell broke loose, he went berserk seeing the car was not there so the next day I put it back in the carport. he has not had access to the keys for a year, so I am back where I started, him wanting the keys, I made up a dummy set of keys for him & he broke off a key in the lock of MY car door....had to start hiding my car keys ( different car) also as last week he took them from my purse & tried to open his car, oh my wish this would end so we could move on to another situation here. They can be sweet as can be then Wham with the constant chatter of keys, car, keys, car.. I have to hide all keys and have one heck of a time finding them sometimes leaving me post it notes for me does not work as he reads them also. Good luck with this, if anyone has the answer please please let us know.

My mother is constantly thinking she needs her keys to run errands, get household items, grocery, ect. Her house is so stocked up that we have enough supplies to last 3 years! Enough dog food and treats to supply our whole town fow a week!! She complains that her dogs are starving! Those dogs eat better than most humans!! Smh... She wanted her keys tonight to go visit her mom, which has been deceased for many years!... it's a never ending thing! She hides her purse as well, which she alway's finds, sooner or later, because that is the only thing I never take from her, and she counts her money at least 5 times a day. She started asking me tonight, to take her to all these places in MY car, and offered to give me some money to chauffeur her around and to go see her mother... with it being close to bed time, I ask her if we could wait until morning, being it was already late and that by the time we got there, her mother would already be asleep... it worked!! Well, until tomorrow when she wakes up!!... thanks to all for your reply, is much appreciated!!

Twopupsmom, you can get a beeper for your key chain. A little device goes on the key chain and then there is a remote that you keep in a secure place (a drawer?) and if you cannot remember where you hid your keys you can push the remote key button and your key chain device will beep. Am I explaining that right? Just thought it might help you find your keys that you hide from your husband.

My Mom is coming for a week --I am picking her up Sunday. She is not too bad about asking for her things and gave up her car pretty willingly but she never really liked to drive(she and I both have a horrible sense of direction). But I did notice last time she was here she kept asking for her purse at night. That is when I found out she keeps her Requip in there and wanted to take it all night. (sigh) I hope she doesn't put up a fight over that again.

The only thing my Mom really does a lot is get fixated on so something that she wants done -like she wanted me to fix her sewing machine ( me?-I don't know how to fix a sewing machine!!) and could not understand that I could not do it. I had to take her to it and try to fix it and only after I "worked" on it for a bit did she let it go. It is still broken. She cannot really sew anymore anyway. She wakes up with an agenda and it has to be done ASAP. My poor Dad deals with this daily --thus me giving him a break. Last time she woke up insisting that they needed to get me a birthday card -bugged him all morning -told him they would be late -Dad called me to have me tell her my birthday was not until next month! Even after he showed her the calendar she wrote on! She seemed upset when I told her Dad was right --she knows she is slipping more and it is making her sad. (again, sigh)

Hugs to you all.

Thanks for the beeper advice, I will check that out!

This is what I mean by "The hardest thing about telling a loved one they have dementia is telling them over and over and over again." We don't actually say it,but every time we have to show them a calendar or take the keys or check book...it reminds them, however briefly. The look on Moms face, in clear moments, when she realizes WHY I do what I do....breaks my heart...over and over again.