|
I have had my new mattress for 9 days and have been waking up after about 5 hours of sleep with shoulder and upper back pain. When I called the salesman he said it was common and to give it a couple of weeks. Luckily I think, the mattress I purchased - Verlo; a local company - allows for one free comfort adjustment in the first 6 months of ownership. You can comfort adjust all you want, but only the first one is free. The bed feels fine to me when I get in - not too soft, not too firm; I'm not too picky about that. It's just later that I wake up in pain. If I were to change the comfort layer, what should I do to relieve this pain - make it softer or firmer? Thanks for any help you can give. Anyway - a bit about me. I'm heavy - 5'8" and 230lbs. I sleep on my back and my sides. The mattress I own is a flipable one: Here's the link http://www.verlo.com/product/1/K/2 I don't know if that will help any. Here's the text: The Ashford utilizes Talalay latex, which has an open-cell structure, ensures conformity with your body. Talalay latex also promotes air circulation through and within it, to keep you cooler in summer and warmer during cool winter nights. Innovative Innerspring Construction
World's Finest Raw Materials
Made Just for Youÿ
|
|
There is an adjustment period for a new mattress and the salesman advice about giving it a couple of weeks is sound. Judging by your pain in the upper half of your body, I would guess that the mattress is not allowing your shoulders to sink in enough. Give it some time, but if the discomfort doesn't go away, try making it a bit softer. It would be better if the springs that are under the latex can be made with a lighter guage of wire to allow the shoulders to sink in more, as adding softer latex to it may cause you to hammock in to the mattress a bit. You would know if you are hammocking the mattress too much by the pain switching from your shoulders to your lower back. Again it is normal to experience discomfort on a new mattress, so hopefully in time all will be well.
Best of luck and keep us posted.
Anthony |
|
AnthonyM wrote:
There is an adjustment period for a new mattress and the salesman advice about giving it a couple of weeks is sound.
Judging by your pain in the upper half of your body, I would guess that the mattress is not allowing your shoulders to sink in enough. Give it some time, but if the discomfort doesn't go away, try making it a bit softer. It would be better if the springs that are under the latex can be made with a lighter guage of wire to allow the shoulders to sink in more, as adding softer latex to it may cause you to hammock in to the mattress a bit. You would know if you are hammocking the mattress too much by the pain switching from your shoulders to your lower back. Again it is normal to experience discomfort on a new mattress, so hopefully in time all will be well.
No offense, but this sounds like double talk bs. This message was modified May 22, 2012 by Sall
|
|
OP here - Well, the pain is still here and it's been almost a month. Logically, I just can't figure out what to do about this mattress and I don't think I can expect the salesman to have the medical knowledge to diagnose my issues. The matress I bought was from a "line" of mattresses where the support system was the same, but the comfort layers were different. It seems like a brand new mattress would have enough support for anyone - at least initially. I don't know if I need something firmer which would seem to be more supportive or softer to ease any pressure points. Mine is the middle of the road for the comfort layers. I do want to say that when i say upper back, I don't mean just shoulders, I mean "not lower back" - I guess it should be termed "upper/mid back", by the end of the night/morning the pain almost wraps around my ribs because my back hurts when I'm on my back, later my sides when I turn onto my sides. It goes away within 15 minutes of being up and around in the morning, but comes back by 2am each and every night. I've spent the entire month seeking relief in other ways - more strength training for my back, stretching exercises every night before bed, pillow under/between my knees - nothing is helping. I'm thinking about making an appointment with a chiropractor next. I just want a good night's sleep. |
| Try putting a 1" foam pad under your hips and see if the pain gets worse or better. If worse, you need a softer matress. The one inch style foam pads are available at camping stores. If you don't want to try that, use a folded towel under the matress pad to support your hips. |
|
i did try the towel and it's clear that if I changed the mattress in any way, it would be to go softer, not firmer. But, I wanted to just wrap this thread up with my status. I went to a chiropractor for the first time ever and after one appointment's worth of treatments, my overnight back pain dimished to about 10% of what it used to be. Amazing. I think with a few more treatments I will be completely pain free. I had been in pain after sleeping since January, and that's why we went and spent quite a bit of money on a new mattress in April. It's a good thing my previous mattress was 12 years old and we were due for a change anyway. Otherwise, I'd be more than a bit irritated at spending all that money on a mattress when it wasn't the mattress, it was ME.
|
|
SOUNDS LIKE YOU GOT ROLLED SON. READ ON ............
I, personally, have a latex mattress (2in topper soft and 6in core firm) that I bought from foambymail(dot)com that is certified to be safe by eco-INSTITUT, I have only had it a week so I cannot recommend it 100% but I did A LOT of research before I bought it. If I was going to buy a memory foam mattress I would buy it from bedinabox(dot)com as they are CertiPUR-US® certified.
If you are going to buy memory foam only buy one that is CertiPUR-US® or Oeko-Tex® certified. Why? because when you buy a CertiPUR-US® memory foam mattress you can know, for example, that it is free of or is below harmful levels of toxic poisons and cancer causing ingredients like:
Low emission (low VOCS) BPA-free Phthalates-free Made without ozone depleters PBDE-free Mercury, Lead and heavy metal free Made without formaldehyde BHT-free
Protection for you investment: Whether you get a latex mattress or a memory foam mattress make sure you get a really good mattress protector because latex and memory foam will break down quicker from sweat, urine, dirt, spills etc. Protect-a-bed makes good mattress protectors but they can be pricey for some people so shop around online.
Do a web search on CertiPUR-US®, Oeko-Tex®, & eco-INSTITUT for more information about their certifications.
Considering a spring mattress? Forget it! Almost all of them are made to FAIL. They are one sided so you cannot flip them to get more life out of them. Some say they put some special foam boarder around the bed so you can have more support when you sit on the edge of the bed BUT it is really to give you less springs which makes it less expensive for them to make the bed. If you sit on the edge of you bed too much and/or for to long it will FAIL. Even if they put some latex, High Resiliency foam a.k.a. HR foam, High Density foam a.k.a. HD Foam, or Memory foam a.k.a. visco-elastic polyurethane foam in the bed it is almost ALWAYS buried deep down in the mattress so they can sell you on it and with a higher price. Then they put JUNK polyurethane foam on top of it (that is why people do “mattress surgery” and cut their mattresses open and pull out all the junk foam and replace it with a latex or memory foam topper). Those polyurethane junk foam top layers will start to break down on day 1 and if you can stand it the mattress will only last you 4 years at best even though it has a 10 year warranty. During those 4 years the mattress will (pick your word) dip, crater, canoe, hammock. Your back will hurt and you will have wasted your money.
*Please note that there are some “brand” name mattress companies out there that sell latex and memory foam mattresses that ARE NOT 100% top to bottom end to end latex or memory foam. What they do is put an inch or 2 of latex or memory foam on top of a block/foundation of some “other” type of foam and call it a latex or memory foam mattress. This still may be better then having the latex or memory foam buried in the bed above the springs BUT when the block/foundation of that “other” type of foam under the latex/memory foam collapses you will need a new mattress. The only exception (there maybe others) is bedinabox which states that their, “mattresses use only HR support [base] foam with a rating of 24/32. That means a 2.4 lb density with a 32 IFD.” This appears to be the good quality foam base with high enough specs to work as a base support system to work under their memory foam.
Look for a company that is: Safe, Secure, & Accredited
1. They are Norton and/or McAfee secured to protect your information from hackers (click on their icons to verify their authenticity)
2. They have encrypted buying/purchasing like VeriSign (click on their icon to verify their authenticity)
3. Better Business Bureau Accredited OR some other internet company rating program (NOT ALWAYS A MUST)
If the company you want to buy from does not have at least points 1 and 2 above MOVE on and find another company online! |