hi to everyone, i've just registered with the talking point. I have an 80 year old father who was diagnosed with vascular dementia approx 18 months ago. He is currently in a nursing home and I need to talk to people who have maybe experienced the different stages I am going through with him. At the moment he still knows who I am if I call him dad but in the past couple of weeks he has taken to staying in bed all the time - the staff try and get him to sit up for his meals which he does for a short period of time but he always wants to return to bed fairly quickly - is this normal? He also gets very aggressive with the staff - I have tried explaining to them he probably cant understand what they are saying to him - some dont speak very good english, but is agresssion part & parcel of dementia? I dont really want him to be sedated all the time just to make their life easier but what can I do to make life easier for him? - We have had several run-ins with the nursing home about their standard of care it just seems like i'm hitting my head against a brick wall sometimes.