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My wife and I have a new Gardner latex mattress, medium firmness. They're pretty close-lipped about construction and won't talk ILDs, but they do claim all-Talalay construction - though they spell it Telelay; inside the mattress casing their medium and firm are both 6" of a firmer latex under a 3" comfort layer of less firm latex. (Their plush and ultra plush have a 4" comfort layer and cost a little more.) I'm a back-and-side sleeper. This mattress was supremely comfortable in the shop on both back and side over about fifteen minutes - no pressure points, cushy support; the firm mattress was a bit unyielding under shoulder and hip and I was a little worried about pressure points. But last night I slept on my back and woke feeling a bit like I was in a hammock. Particularly when I went to roll onto my side and found a bit of pressure against the bottom of my rib cage and the top of my thigh. As if they were on the edges of a hole that my butt had formed during the night. I had to get up an hour early; the mattress was quite warm and shaped for back sleeping, and I couldn't get comfortable in any other position (and felt a little hammocky in that position). A week or so ago I pulled a muscle in my back at the gym, and now have a little occasional pain in a narrow stripe from the left of my spine out towards the left, and when I was trying to get comfortable on my side I felt pain there. My pelvis was trying to tip up because my legs were out of the hole my hip was in. I've been mostly sleeping on my side - actually on the front part of my side, so my weight isn't so much on my butt as on the fronts of my thighs, and I get better support without the hammocking. I've read on this site in a few places that latex often sinks in a little bit after a few hours. I'm wondering if anyone can give details, because I only have a week in which to decide what to do. I think my options at this point only really include keeping this mattress and swapping it in for the firmer version - but will that be worse for me? What's behind the hammocking? Maybe I should just lose weight, but that's not a good short-term solution. My wife loves this mattress. What should we do? |
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cloud9 wrote: I think you're missing the point of what a forum is all about. And I'm with you on broccoli. But people use the feedback here to make informed decisions about their mattress purchase. They deserve to hear both sides of the issue. I'm glad you love your Talalay mattress, but is a very unforgiving sleep surface for people with certain back issues or inflammatory conditions.
I don't love my Talalay mattress. I haven't had enough time yet (with the Talatex) to love it or hate it. Should I decide I hate it though, I won't post repeatedly simply to state that I hate it and that it's impossible for anyone to sleep on. I am simply a firm believer that we all have different needs and different products will suit different people. Not to mention that your claim that springs don't push back is just ludicrous. I have back problems that cause me a considerable amount of pain at times and can get bad enough that I can't stand upright for short periods of time. This year I also developed some strange MCS (I say strange because I never had this issue in my life until now) and pretty much any insecticide or other strong-smelling chemical makes it feel like a very large man is sitting on my chest. Dust mites and such seem to have begun to affect me more also - older bedding makes me sneeze and sniffle like I have a cold and by older I simply mean a few years. Well the latter issue really narrowed our mattress search. You simply cannot get an innerspring in a store like Sleepy's, JC Penney's, etc. without having the insecticide. Tempurpedics have a similar issue, not to mention they are near $4000, sleep hot and the lifespan of memory foam for the money is not promising. Water and air have always made my back scream so those were out also. Well that leaves latex or an innerspring from a company like McCroskey, who does not use the insecticides. Well a McRoskey is near $4000 also when all is said and done and if we could have afforded it, I probably have tried one. There are some cheaper options on the net like Beds By Design - but they aren't much cheaper (I was given a quote of about $3000) and what if it was crap? I can't very well ship back an innerspring at my own cost. Well if you take all of that into account, there wasn't much direction for us to go in except latex or something new-age'ish like gel. I think the generalization that all people in group X (let's say that's the group of people with "certain back issues") need to sleep on an innerspring if they want to avoid back pains is way off base. This message was modified Oct 11, 2007 by a moderator
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D3Fi -- why are you getting so bent out of shape over an opinion? We are all entitled to our opinions. It seems like all you focus on are my comments about lumbar issues and an incompatibility with Talalay and absolutely nothing else. My original post in this thread simply responded to TC's complaint that his soft latex mattress was hammocking. I suggested he try a firmer configuration. Nowhere did I say I hated the stuff! Actually YOU said that. And I never claimed that springs don't push back. Of course they do. What I said was "An innerspring mattress may just feel hard but it does not exert force against your body. You just feel "pressure points" where hips and shoulders press more deeply against it. " Springs don't have the same kind of resilience as Talalay, nor do you sleep directly on an innerspring. There are several inches of foam or other comfort layers over the spring unit. You do, however, sleep directly on the latex. Believe me, I am NOT a lobbiest for the innerspring mattress industry. Far from it. I bought a latex mattress to get away from innerspring mattresses that sag and produce pressure points, along with all the other health issues. And because I loved the idea of sleeping on something as wonderfully comfy as my old Dunlop mattress of yore. I just wish there had been someone on this forum to point out that Talalay was a completely different animal than Dunlop and came with its own set of issues, because if someone had been then I might have been able to make a more informed decision about whether this was a good fit for me--or at least I would have purchased it from a vendor with a better return policy. But everything I read made me wonder why I would ever want to return it it sounded so terrific. And remember, I'd slept on latex before and had no reason to think it would be any different. Only after I developed the most excruciating backache of my life and started poking way down deep into this forum did I discover that my experience was by no means unique. Too late then because I didn't have the information I really needed before I ordered. I couldn't agree with you more. Everyone is different. Everyone has different preferences and requirements. But if all you hear about are the pros and none of the cons you can't make an informed decision. And like I said, if it bugs you hearing it over and over, feel free to skip my posts. But someone else may be glad they saw it because it gave them a little more to consider before they made the decision to buy a latex mattress. It looks like you've tried everything and have moved on to latex out of desperation, although it doesn't seem to be love at first lie down for you either. I hope it works out for you. A good night's sleep can do wonders for your disposition. This message was modified Oct 14, 2007 by cloud9
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