Mattress Forum

Zoning Queen: Top 30" - 2" 19 ILD Sleep like a Bear lates Bottom 60"- 2" 19 ILD Foam by Mail - Love after 5yrs, 12 mattresses, 40 toppers!
Jan 23, 2010 8:41 AM
shovel99
Joined: Dec 11, 2009
Points: 113
Hi
Thanks to all who labor to help the rest of us find a night's sleep.  I am a 60 YO male, 170 pounds, 60% side and 40% back sleeper with lower back pain.  I am a restless sleeper, toss and turn, and cannot stand heat, so those factors ruled out memory foam.  Being old with no muscle covering my shoulders and hips any more, when sleeping on my side I need just enough padding (latex) to accommodate those pressure points.  But when I lay on my back, soft enough for shoulder/hip meant too soft to support my butt when sleeping on my back.  During the night, my body would apparently sense my butt "falling" and hold it up... and I would crawl out of bed with aching lower back lumbar pain.

I have chased the problem for five years.. probably $5000 worth of mattresses (12, but numerous swaps with each purchase) and 40 toppers and pads from 2" memory foam 3 or 4 times trying to get away from the heat... slow response.... to all kinds of combinations... vertical... of different density ILD of latex.

Here was the Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..... solution:  the top (toward head and shoulders) 30 inches of the bed is 2 inches of Sleep Like a Bear Talalay Talatech 19 ILD, (soft, but enough to support my shoulders and avoid the point support pressure), and the bottom (butt and feet) 60 inches of the bed covered with 19 ILD, dense, supportive 2 inch Latex topper from Foam by Mail.  The 19 ILD from FBM is very dense, even though it is advertized as "soft".  In another post, I compare the two and estimate that the SLAB Talatech must be only 60% as dense... less supportive, of course, but 40% softer. 

After years of experimentation with mostly Simmons beautyrest... firm, plush, pillow top and then several others, I tried to S&F "entry level"  and bough an equivalent to t the Camdenhurst luxury  plush (available at mattress firm) ... firm which can be bought at CCmattress.com in their equivalent.  Quite firm for a plush, I thought it was soft enough, but then had some aches because of lack of hip/shoulder give bending the spine and numbness at hip/shoulder.

Back to the latex pads.  2" "soft" Floam by Mail Latex helped, but was still quite firm, and didn't give enough. 

AS everyone may have learned, for those of us especially with lower back pain, you need support under the hips.. as firm as you can stand, interlinked mattress better than indvidually pocketed coil.  The trick at the comfort layer is to have just enough soft so you don't bottom too hard on the firmer next support, and that none of it allows your back to sag.  Doubly difficult for heavier person who sleeps side or back.

My next to last stab was 1 " Talatech Talalay 19 ILD Soft from Sleep like a bear.  Shoulder and hip were now fine on my side, (on top of a firmish plush mattress..., if you put yours on a firm mattress you might need more thickness...etc.)  but sleeping on my back... my butt sagged and woke up with lumbar pain.

The 1" 19 ILD was all packed and ready to be swapped for firmer pad when the light bulb went off:  fold the 2" soft for upper 30" (Head) .... and the firmer, denser Foam by Mail 19 ILD (the industry needs better standards or more honesty) for the bottom 60 inches... feet. 

To do this, you will need a queen sized 2" 19 ILD from Foam by mail which you will cut to fit the 60x60 lower 2/3 of your queen mattress.  I used sharp scizzors, and yes, it is tough on the hands to do that.'
For the top 30 x 60, you can buy a 2" thick 19 ILD Talatech twin and cut it down.  There is no problem wth the "joint"... the pads are held in place by your mattress pad and you won't even know the joint is there.
For me this was fabulous, the end of a long, agonizing expensive trail.

One other comment, which I will post so that the title can be picked up:  most people say you cant "firm" a soft mattress, can only soften a firm mattress.  While that is generally true,  a firm topper can "bridge" and reduce the sagging effects of a softer mattress... by layering a softer top layer on firmer base layer.  At some point price wise you will be better off investing in the new mattress, but should also consider buying firm new mattress .... less expensive because it doesn't have the expensive latex comfort layer .... and choosing and installing your own latex topper comfort layer... and the combination will last a lot longer than a factory mattress, most of which have comfort layers that will have body impressions in a few short years.

My combo here had some firming/bridging effect:  the fairly firm, supportive 19 ILD from Foam by Mail feels like it has more firmness and less give than the mattress did by itself.  Visualize a sheet of plywood placed over soft mud to understand the concept of "bridging".

Overstock sells  a bridging product called Rejuvenator... think Sealy or Serta .... approx 1.5" of firm memory foam and 2.5% of very firm base foam that does this pretty well, if you like a very firm feel and can live with the response qualities of memory foam and the heat.

At any rate, I can now sleep, thanks and good luck to all!
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