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Hi, I am new to this forum and I need help with my mattress. I bought a very firm mattress less than a year ago, no pillow top. I tried to make it more comfortable by adding a 3inch memory foam topper, but I am constantly waking up in the middle of the night with terrible hip pain. What can I do to make this mattress more comfortable? I am a side sleeper and I like my mattresses to be on the soft side. I used to have a mattress with a pillow top which I loved, but of course it started sagging after 2 years, that’s why I bought a firm mattress without pillow top this time. But I think it's just to firm and creates pressure points. Any advise is greatly appreciated. BTW I am temporally sleeping on an airbed right now, which is actually quite comfortable. |
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A lot of people find that 3" of memory foam is too much for comfort. And some of us just plain don't like memory foam at all. I would suggest you try a thinner topper: 1" if you are small/light, 2" if you are larger and heavier. You could try another memory foam topper or you could try latex or even regular poluurethane foam. You might have to "layer" some toppers to get things right (for example 1" of memory foam over 2" latex). Most people here suggest no more than 3" of "soft" foam. If you look at the "Topper" threads you can probably find some recommendations for buying them cheap. It would be really cool if you could cut your existing 3" topper into a 1" and a 2" so you could experiment that way (see if you like 1" or 2" better), but I don't know if that can be done... Good luck... |
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st3v3k4hn wrote: A lot of people find that 3" of memory foam is too much for comfort. And some of us just plain don't like memory foam at all. I would suggest you try a thinner topper: 1" if you are small/light, 2" if you are larger and heavier. You could try another memory foam topper or you could try latex or even regular poluurethane foam. You might have to "layer" some toppers to get things right (for example 1" of memory foam over 2" latex). Most people here suggest no more than 3" of "soft" foam. If you look at the "Topper" threads you can probably find some recommendations for buying them cheap. It would be really cool if you could cut your existing 3" topper into a 1" and a 2" so you could experiment that way (see if you like 1" or 2" better), but I don't know if that can be done... Good luck... I like what st3v3k4hn says about memory foam. Personally I don't like it, and people have to understand that it doesn't suit everyone. Layering the toppers can be quite effective if you cannot get the desired results from using memory foam or latex alone, and I've known it to work for some friends of mine. |
| How old is the memory foam? I found it to only last 6 months, then you bottom out. Layering 1" toppers is what I am trying now. So far 1" latex, 1" polyurethane topper on that. I am waiting for 1" memory foam to arrive. Hoping that helps shoulder pain. The two toppers are helping tremendously with hip pain I had before. Good luck. |
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I wish I had some good advice but all I can do is emphathize with firm mattress horror story and say a new mattress is in order. (and yes, I was at a friend's house and slept on a airbed recently and it was awesome so I understand sleeping on one.) I bought a new mattress a year and a half ago thinking, it's firm, that;s "good for you" right? Wrong (at least in my my case). I didn't sleep for a year and a half and it affected very inch of me. I had horrible hip and back pain and I've never had any in my entire life! I would wake up stiff, tired and aching! To make things better I tried: 1) a down (fake down) pillowtop cover (hurt my back more) 2) Memory foam, fell down in it. Wasn't comfortable 3) A eggshell cheapie (best out of all but still not comfortable and still achy) 4) a 7-zone foam pad. Nope, didn't work. I realized it was the mattress and there was nothing I can do. The toppers only make the bed softer but they do nothing for the support that lies underneath Got a new mattress delivered yesterday, slept on it and guess what? No aches or pains. . I slept on my Sealy Backsaver mattress last night and it was awesome. It was plush but still supportive. Buy a new mattress but spend a lot of time in the store. Lay on your back and sides for 5 minutes a piece. Don't pay attention to what the tag says (plush or firm) just lie down and see how it feels (5 minutes apiece on your side, back and stomach) . I actually was taking notes and the all the salespeople were laughing at me but guess what? There was no "breaking in" period for the mattress I slept on for the first time last night. I fell right asleep and woke up refreshed. Your body will tell you what it needs. |
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devil_youknow wrote: Buy a new mattress but spend a lot of time in the store. Lay on your back and sides for 5 minutes a piece. Don't pay attention to what the tag says (plush or firm) just lie down and see how it feels (5 minutes apiece on your side, back and stomach) . I actually was taking notes and the all the salespeople were laughing at me but guess what? There was no "breaking in" period for the mattress I slept on for the first time last night. I fell right asleep and woke up refreshed. Your body will tell you what it needs.
I've had this mattress a little over a year now and of course, it's already losing it's original support to the point where I'm just about ready to cut it open and replace the foam. And this is a so-called luxury firm! I hope you have better luck in the long run than I have, but if it's got PU foam it will compress and lose support within a year. This message was modified Aug 13, 2008 by cloud9
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cloud9 wrote: [snip...] if it's got PU foam it will compress and lose support within a year. I think a more accurate statement might be, if it has convoluted foam (eggcrate), it will compress and lose support within a year. Some PU foams can last, say, 16 years, according to some sites I've read, but slicing it up into eggcrate simply weakens its structure. I found it interesting when shopping that the mattresses with convoluted foam specified in their warranties an acceptable "body impression" exactly equal to the height of the convoluted foam. For example, if the mattress has 1.5 inches of convoluted foam, the mattress must depress more than 1.5 inches to be considered defective. If it had 2 inches of convoluted foam, guess what the warranty said? Yep, body impressions must be more than 2 inches deep. My theory is the convoluted foam gives you that nice "cloud like" feeling so it sells well, and that's why they put it in mattresses. It's too bad if you get a mattress where the convoluted foam is sewn inside so you can't replace it when it wears out. If you like convoluted foam, consider it a disposable feature and put it on top where you can replace it as needed. |
| That's true. Some PU foams can last 15 years or so. But they're HR (high resiliency) foam. The crap they put in your average S-brand mattress is low density PU foam. Something like 1.2 lb. Real crap. This stuff will flatten like a board within a year, convoluted or not. |