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Hi. Got a Simmons BackGuard last week after returning an NXG 250 Firm which turned out to be both too soft and too hard at the same time (butt sank too much, back was pulling while shoulders were in pain and arms went numb). The BackGuard has zones (thinner coils under hips and shoulders and very firm for lumbar support) that I can distinguished with my ribs when I lay on my side after a minute or so (I weigh 250 lbs). Every morning, I wake up in pain (shoulders, ribs, back) so I'm looking for a topper but don't want to go overbaord to avoid making it too soft. Budget is limited so I'm leaning toward Foambymail latex topper. Don't know if I should go for 20 or 32 ILD. Any advice? Also, does anybody know how bad will their topper smell? How long before it dissipates? This message was modified Dec 7, 2010 by ZZZZ
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| Wife was complaining of hip pain so she decided to call the configuration tonight. It will be another type of experiment: Ikea topper (2 inches of poly in a cotton/poly cover) on the bottom, latex (one inch) in the middle and egg crate (one inch) on top, not upside down as she aims for maximum softness. We wrapped it all up in the mattress pad we have, which tightens it up a tad. I just tried it and it is softer indeed. I'll report on how it went tomorrow. |
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Perfect. That was what I was hoping you would try in reply #59 but you ended up switching the bottom two layers on me instead in reply # 60 :). Now we have a reference point to compare this with from your experience with this configuration without the eggcrate. We are getting somewhere! Just so you know as well ... the softness of this layer won't come from the eggcrate ... but from all 3 layers combined. If the bumps up causes you to sink too far into a deeper layer ... then it could actually feel harder. In another thread I mentioned that every change needs to take into account the effect on every layer. A softer thin layer on top can actually in some cases make a bed feel harder. While it's likely that the egg crate either way won't make much difference ... the belief that it will feel softer overall by having a softer side up is not necessarily correct. The goal of the eggcrate is not to provide softness by itself ... It's to help you sink into a lower layer just enough that the lower layer will still feel soft. Slow and methodical will work here ... random or possible incorrect assumptions will make things much more difficult. Phoenix This message was modified Dec 3, 2010 by Phoenix
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| All right. We'll try it up one night, and upside down tomorrow. |
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Great! Don't forget too to resist the temptation to "fix" your mattress with any combination of these 3 layers. If it does that would be a surprising bonus. What we are looking for is to learn the effect of certain changes so we can better predict which type of additional layer would give us the greatest odds of working and where to put that layer. Phoenix |
| I have to say that my lower back pain has greatly decreased today. Mid back still hurts, along with neck but this could be related to the pillow so I don't worry about it too much for now. |
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Once again, the first night was firmer than I expected (whenever I write this, I can go way back and remember my honeymoon... not what you're thinking: the bed in that little german hotel was almost as hard as the floor!). The initial softness went away in about 10 minutes. The good news is that I didn't sink in one spot, the bed is still very much flat, even after adding 4 inches of foam (for a total of 5), contrary to the 250 wich made me sink in the middle through its 4.5 inches. It even felt it a bit too hard on my legs, all the way down to my ankles! As you predicted, the egg crate simply vanished. It felt like I couldn't make it through the latex and into the pillowtop. Lower back is way more stiff this morning and my sacrum is quite sore but that could just be related to a difference in the spine alignment and adjust itself in a week or so as I've experienced it with the previous mattresses. Another interesting development is that with this configuration, I wasn't able to sleep with a single pillow, on my side anyway. I ended up using two and I took away 80% of the numbness in my arms. This message was modified Dec 4, 2010 by ZZZZ
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Laughing .... Now we're getting some great feedback and information. One more night with this (reversing the topper if you'd like but no big deal) and we'll take a look at where we are. Phoenix This message was modified Dec 4, 2010 by Phoenix
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| SInce it appears that I regressed and had to tack pain killers all day, I decided to wait before pushing this experiment any further. I moved the latex back on the bottom, pillowtop in the middle and egg crate on top. I'm afraid to make the pain any worst and have to suffer another 10 days like I've just been through. I'll see how this works, I may even throw in the quilt for tonight. |
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OK ... It's almost time to decide what to do next as I doubt that any combination with the layers you have will come close but we've gained some really helpful information to help with the decision. I'll post some thoughts tomorrow afer you've had a chance to (hopefully) get some rest tonight. Phoenix |
| So I did end up adding the quilt over the egg crate (which was flat side up). Weight was more concentrated from the thigh to the ribs (sore on my side) but I was almost comfortable on my back and quite good on stomach. I ended up spending 8 hours in bed (I took a sleeping pill). This morning, I woke with my butt sinking quite a bit more and I was quite uncomfortable (wouldn't have been able to spend another 10 minutes in there). I undid the bed and saw that the egg crate had sagged badly and partly folded in some areas around the middle. I decided not to use it anymore since it has absolutely no resilience. Tonight, I'll do the same setup but without the egg crate. |