Mattress Forum

After we spoke I realized that most of my problem seems to be in my shoulder area. Hips were sore sometimes but this was PRIOR to getting into bed. Shoulder would actually act up after laying on my side for a few minutes, which is my natural resting position. I try to sleep on my back but I can't do it. For some reason I tend to get a lot of nightmares when I sleep on my back. Maybe I'm crazy, but there seems to be a pattern with that (for me at least).

I think my problem with memory foam might be that I tend to sleep in a colder than normal room (around 72F - I'm heat fussy) and that probably keeps the foam a bit harder than necessary. My upper body is quite heavy and I have a big ol' head that weighs everything down, especially when I have my arm under my pillow which Evilyn said I might be doing to support my head sometimes.

I've got like 6 pillows including a tempurpedic one that seems to weigh about 5 pounds and crushes my arm if I try to put it underneath. The other pillows are down and a flat bouncy latex one. 

I've spent so much money on trying to get to the bottom of my chronic fatigue (doctor visits, tests, sleep studies) and didn't even realize it was probably my mattress all along. Even though I thought memory foam was good, maybe it wasn't the best solution for me.

I'm even willing to move that mattress into another room and buy something like the Sleep Number or FloBed if that will help... At this point I'm ready to do whatever it takes to get some painless rest. At least it won't be a pain to return the topper and pillow if I end up having to go that route. Are toppers enough to avoid having to buy an entirely new bed? 

I'm pretty excited about this... I hope something good comes from it.

Evelyn is nice at SLAB, wonder how you came up with 28ILD, probably from your height and weight.  Yes, a pillow does alleviate some of the shoulder issues.  Good luck and let us know how it works out for you.

Before you start spending too much or throwing stuff on top of other stuff, I would try to gain a fairly clear idea of why you may be having the issues you are and what could possibly remedy them. I would also try to get an idea of what other issues your potential "fix" could cause. I've seen examples of people who ended up with the same problem with their "fix" even though it was for completely different reasons. This forum is filled with examples of people who didn't have a really clear idea of why they may be having problems and then just started trying to fix them ad hoc without a real plan of action. Some succeeded ... others failed and gave up completely out of frustration.

If you look at some of the recent posts by sandman for example (and there are many other similar sagas in the forum as well) you will see how adding, subtracting, or altering layers can make a real (sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle) difference and more important you will see why the effects happened. You will begin to get a sense of what a specific change might do ahead of time. There is also a real wealth of information here and some people who have been around for a long time and seen a lot of things in the "real world".

It may still be helpful to know what if anything you have on top of your mattress at the moment.

Good luck ... I have a good feeling that your problem will be solved.

Phoenix

I am very impressed with the feedback you have received from this group.  I believe they are pretty much spot on!  I also agree that 32 ILD will be too firm to use as a topper.  However, you may want to add a softer one of maybe in the mid twenties on top of your 32 ILD.  Yes I am saying add to your 32 ILD.  the reason is you are good size and since you are of athletic build I think you will benifit from the increasing firmness and support.  One more thing - I think you will find that 3" (Two of mid 20"s and the 32 you have now.) will be dramatically more comfortable for your shoulders.  I know this gets exspensive real quick so if you can increase thickness an inch at a time - assuming this is a cheaper way to go.  I would however suggest the ligher ILD on top of the firmer ILD - you seem as you are pretty solid so you you might be suprised and pleased with the results.  By the way, the firmer pillow is a very good idea - amazing how much strain a head tourqing down can strain on a shoulder joint!

Gunman

Yes, good luck Jason; I know the feeling of long sleep deprivation. For over a year I had a Comfortaire (like sleep number) that pinched my arms/shoulders unmercifully (side sleeper) no matter what I did or what expensive toppers I tried. I was, like you, waking up constantly all night long, every night. Finally got rid of it about a month ago and sleeping better (not great, but better) on a regular innerspring beautyrest w/ no pillowtop.  (Still working on the right mattress pad though).

Thanks for the reply. I totally missed your first post asking what could be preventing the foam from melting! I think I skimmed by it and being on a few hours of broken sleep I can barely comprehend anything today.

All I had on top of my mattress was a fitted sheet and some old generic cotton pad. I just took the cotton pad off and now have the sheet directly over the mattress (it has a "cooling" zip cover). I wonder if that cotton pad (or whatever it is), probably a 1/8" thick, very smashed and old, was preventing me from actually feeling / melting the memory foam. The sheet I was using was also very thick, 1200 thread count I believe. This combination was probably a bad one. I've got a thin sheet on there now.

I toss and turn all night long because my shoulders start killing me. Circulation feels cut off to where my shoulder or arm begins to get tingly and numb or achy, more so achy. My left shoulder is worse than the other, even during the day now... primarily the side I feel most comfortable sleeping on.

Thanks again for the advice... I'll be digging around the site a lot more for some knowledge!

Phoenix

I did add a new pillow. The rejuvinte restora latex pillow. This seemed to help quite a bit to be honest! Even when my head was on the pillow and my arm was underneath, it didn't seem to have that "crushing" pressure like every one of my other pillows allows. My arm didn't fall asleep or lose circulation... no aches this morning either.

I still woke up a few times to readjust and go to the bathroom, but only 4-5 times (1x for the bathroom), which is a significant improvement!! I can typically keep from going to the bathroom at night by taking a calcium / magnesium supplement during the day along with my ZMA stack at night, I just forgot to take them yesterday.

It's early, so I won't get too excited yet. Looks like I'm on the right track!

Next step lets see what happens with the 1" latex topper. Keep us up to date on how you sleep in the next few days.

Phoenix