Back pain from new mattress (S&F Hearthstone - Luxury Firm)

[thejester]

So I bought a Stearns and Foster Hearthstone Luxury Firm (queen) three weeks ago from Sears. I had been sleeping on a no name twin for years and have been wanting to upgrade for a long time. The firm mattresses seemed so great when I tried them out in the store (probably cause they were such a contrast to my older mattress - it was about 17 years old). I bought the bed at Sears because of the 18 months no interest financing and free delivery - and the bed had the extra 10 percent off the normal 50 percent off sale.

Things seemed fine the first few nights - it was a little firmer than I had remembered in stores - but then I had three to four days walking up with very bad lower back pain. I had to get out of the bed to make it stop. Then I had a week where it seemed pretty normal - but then three more mornings of lower back pain.

After reading a few posts it seems that firm might not of been the best choice for me - I am a side/stomach sleeper. I bought a novaform memory foam 3" mattress topper from Costco and tried it out last night. This morning was better. But I am wondering - why should I spend the money on the more expensive stearns and Foster just to have to purchase a topper to make it doable for me? I'm just not sure what my best course of action is. I don't like the idea of having the pay the restocking fee either. There was a softer firm mattress (Sealy I believe) that I could look at getting instead I guess. On its best sale, it cost around 700 for the queen if I remember.

I have another 5 days before my time runs out to return the mattress - any advice on what to do?

Thanks

 

[lowbacpain]

buy a memory foam mattress. and like you i sleep on side and have low back pain and life is currently close to hell every day due to my plush sealy mattress.

 

[lnkholder]

This is a tough call - you don't have much time to research what might work better for you. But you have got to return that thing before your 5 days are up. There is no way the situation is going to get any better, it's only going to head downhill from here. Do you get to restart the 30 day clock with your next choice, or do you have to keep whatever you take this time?

Two pieces of advice I've seen here that might be useful to you. It's easier to take a firm mattress and soften it up than it is to take a soft mattress and then firm it up. So if you really can't make a good choice quickly enough, err on the side of something firm and then put a topper on top. And make sure whatever you do end up with has no pillowtop - get something flat and put your novafoam topper on that. The cheap foam in the pillowtop will compress and get lumpy and uncomfortable, a basic mattress is easier to fix up.

 

[KimberlyH]

This is a tough call. If the mattress is hurting, I'd say return it. You don't mention what your budget is, but quick and dirty advice would be to look into:

1) A Celeste or Ara memory foam bed from Costco - a lot of people seem to have reported positively to those beds and Costco has an amazing return policy;
2) If your budget is a little higher, a Tempurpedic bed - again memory foam, but Tempurpedic's proprietary material, which reportedly does last longer than other memory foams. Tempurpedics aren't for everyone, you either seem to love or hate them. I tried them out extensively in many dealerships, and I liked them a lot. Return policy is typically 90 days. Or,
3) You could try a latex mattress. This is a little tougher because it's difficult to try these out in store. Some of the major "S" brands sell "latex" mattresses that are a few inches of latex on top of PU foam. You would not want to buy one of these, but to lie on one, you would get a basic sense of what latex feels like. If you like the feel, then the best bet is to order one online from a reputable company like 1) Flobeds 2) Sleepez 3) Sleeplikeabear 4) ugh, I can't remember the name of the 4th place or 5) Foambymail. Prices of latex mattresses differ, but in general I would say Flobeds is the most expensive, with the most generous return and exchange policy, and Foambymail is probably the least expensive, with a little bit more variability in quality and a less generous return/exchange policy.

Memory foam and latex mattresses are great for *most* people with back issues. They can provide firm, supportive sufaces, with enough give to eliminate pressure points that can cause pain.

Tell us a little bit more about your situation, how tall/heavy you are, how you prefer to sleep, where it hurts . . .

 

[jimsocal]

Do you still have your old mattress? If so, you could try mattress surgery. Those springs might still be good and you could try buying a couple 1" layers of latex to replace the foam inside it. See my thread on mattress surgery:

MATTRESS SURGERY: performing a "foam-ectomy" on my Englander mattress - w/ photos

Guess what? Englander is no better than the S brands (imho)... As you may know, I bought the Englander (Malibu Firm) only for the springs. I PLANNED to give it a "foam-ectomy", getting rid of the junky cheap foam. But I wanted to see how long it might be comfortable before I did surgery on it...

www.whatsthebest-mattress.com

Make sure you click ALL to see each post including links to other surgeons' projects.

If you don't like that idea then my advice is do NOT buy a memory foam mattress unless you get a 100% refund possibility with it. Several people here have bought Tempurpedic and did not like them, although Kimberly is right, SOME do like them. However, in my opinion the ones who don't like them are usually the ones who have lower back pain with other mattresses as you did with your S&F. So the Tempurpedic and other memory foam mattresses will probably not give you the proper support for your lower back.

S&F are probably pretty good springs so you could also just accept the fact that you bought good springs with bad foam on top and spend another $100-200 on latex to put on top of the springs and throw out all the old foam.

Otherwise, there is the latex mattress alternative, just - again - make sure you get a sleep trial with full or mostly-full refund if you don't like it.

 

[Jazzsinger777]

Funny,

I bought the latex mattress and cancelled the order the next day due to the fact the warrantee was not valid unless I used a plastic membrane to create a water proof seal to protect the mattress. $3,000 to sleep on a latex bed wrapped in a waterproof plastic protector ... NO WAY.

However, you asked what I think. I think the Sterns and Foster beds have the best volume and gauge of springs on the market and so it is a very good mattress. It is causing you pain, so I agree with JimSocial and I think you should look into a nice piece of latex as a topper.

This way you will have support and plush for your shoulder if you need it when you are sleeping on the side.

 

[SleeperWA]

thejester wrote:
So I bought a Stearns and Foster Hearthstone Luxury Firm (queen) three weeks ago from Sears. I had been sleeping on a no name twin for years and have been wanting to upgrade for a long time. The firm mattresses seemed so great when I tried them out in the store (probably cause they were such a contrast to my older mattress - it was about 17 years old). I bought the bed at Sears because of the 18 months no interest financing and free delivery - and the bed had the extra 10 percent off the normal 50 percent off sale.

Oddly enough, this was EXACTLY the same as my situation. Years and years on a Twin, loved the feel of the S&F Hearthstone, bought it that day. After a couple of weeks there was a sag developing right in the middle of it, despite me not even sleeping in the middle yet. I took it back to Sears with a few days to spare and started doing lots of research online. I decided it sounded like Latex was the move for me, as getting something that would last a long time and maintain its support was key. All of the S brands put too much crap on top of their springs, so no matter how good the springs are, once the foam fails its adios quality sleep. Makes sense why people around this board do "mattress surgery". Anyway, I went with an all natural dunlop latex from a local mom & pop for $1499 and I'm picking it up in the next few days. It's got a 6" plush firm latex core and 3/4" plush firm latex on each side so it's flippable. It felt fantastic in the showroom, I'll post on here once I spend a few nights on it. Good luck!