Firstly, thank you for taking your time. This is all making less sense to me as days go on. Feel free to give me some bullet points to focus on that will be most helpful to you, to avoid this long of a post. If this post is just too long, I can rewrite it later with more focused info, and hopefully either “good” mattresses I used/like or other concrete info to help.
Current/past beds: Last night was the worst sleep ever. It finally felt too firm (2 nights in a row now). My entire body felt like gravity pancaked me into the bed, and every joint in my body needed to be stretched/cracked. As if I was pressure forced down and it made my whole body feel locked that way. This was the sealy PP plus, XF queen 12" on adjustable base (googling suggested the adjustable base could help, but I’m guessing it’d add minor tweaks and probly not enough of a change)
Sealy: Both the XF and medium felt good for 1-1.5 months new, then the medium definitely felt too soft, I woke up everyday feeling like my back spent the whole night tense and working out. The XF did this at about the same time, but now it’s way too firm, feels like all the foam layers compacted tremendously (the hip foam compacted frst, so that caused the initial back pain, perhaps?). Encased coils seeming extra firm still. Not sure I like them, but hard to say in this situation. The 3 year latex is definitely preferred though.
Older, good non-spring beds (short lifespam though) The sealy XF was good for 1.5months~, then it felt the same that my first T-pedic and latex had (once they were 3-4 years old), like it sagged at lower back and was going to continue to be too soft there for years to come. The latex felt wonderful, but I used a “snore app”, turns out I was screaming in excruciating pain multiple times a night and I had no idea. I could hear me do a lower back stretch then just going back to sleep. But that awful scream is hard to forget.
tempurpedic and latex after about 3-4 years of use (from a tempur-p, $2,200 in 2008-09 queen, don’t know model. It felt pretty soft (once warm obv.), and had perfect support, for 3 years.
And (?medium-firm? pure latex bIiss, queen 8", maybe “10 ($800 from bedmart outlet, probably not helpful narrowing it down, but just in case). I put my old latex sheets onto my 12” sealy - they don’t fit at all, so 8" or 10" def seeming right. Medium-firm if that’s an option (guessing thogh). I can e-mail the company and hope they’ll narrow it down. It all made my lower back feel strained and like I spent the whole “sleeping” night just tensing those lower back muscles, then a bad office chair and no lumbar car chair made it all worse. (oddly, about .75" of shredded M-foam was enough lumbar support)
Sealy XF now: It feels like all the top foam layers are compacted, almost non-existant. It’s just me on the bed, and waking up feeling like EVERY, SINGLE. tendon/bones/joints - all around (most noticeable at whole back, neck, knee and shoulders. The knee and hip pain/almost bruise is only on the side I slept on.
I could go in to a store and try out different latex mattresses to know which ones feel a good comfort/support, probably a medium/medium-firm I guess. That should help you have more info on suggestions, yes? I tried a kingsdown plush, but it has a soft topper since it was abnormally firm compared to their test in-store. I liked it, was a little soft, but seems to have good support.
Woodfloor, blankets, pads, not great - I tried sleeping on the floor, with a 2" thermarest backpacking pad, 2" zinus memory foam, 3 blankets, yoga mat, etc. Many combo’s of them. Support for back was 9/10, but 3 weeks in it hurt my shoulders/hips, so hardwood floors + 4-6" of pesudo comfort layers didn’t work out.
https://imgur.com/a/AlgMwYd My old latex, after some surgery. And the bedmart “smart match” bed testing thingy suggested these, or I initially liked them
Main ideas for fixes:
Basically, I can buy a medium(?), med-firm? - 2", maybe 3" latex topper and hope that helps with my sealy XF. or I can return it for a huge loss. It’s worthless to me now anyway though.
Or I can buy a really nice camping pad ($150~, need one anyway) to tide me over until I can buy the DIY latex bed.
(If affordable, the ideal solution now, but I think it’ll be out of my price range) DIY build: Since I’m 6", 150lb (142-165 range over years). Do you guess this might work for me? Base: 1" XF foam, 4" ~firm* support (dunlop) → 1-2" medium-firm latex, then 1-2" medium-soft (talalay?) maybe?
I feel like I could even go 1-3" less and it’d be enough. I’m hoping it would last for many many years, though I know it’d require getting new layers after a few years, but beats buying a whole new mattress (Maybe replacing zones, like going with 3-4" mid layer, just for the center zone, years later if the back pain problem kicks in at the dreaded 3-year mark), but also just anything to help cheaply* get something that I can sleep on.
Hopefully this was useful info. I’ll try to answer further questions more directly. Just had trouble with beds for 12 years now, hoping this wall of text can help.
I think my latex mattress, pamper or nature. link https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/pure-latex-bliss-mattress-specifications-construction
PLB - Peace
LatexBLISS uses 450-480 Gram Weight fabric
LatexBLISS Milliken?s Paladin Fire Resistant Barrier
1" Natural Talalay Latex 28 ILD
6" Dunlop Core Synthetic Latex
1" Support Stabilization Base Extra Firm Talalay latex
8" Mattress Height
9" Steel Foundation
17" Overall Mattress & Foundation
20 Years Limited Warranty 10/10
PLB - Pamper
LatexBLISS uses 450-480 Gram Weight fabric
LatexBLISS Milliken?s Paladin Fire Resistant Barrier
1" Natural Talalay Latex 19 ILD
6" Natural Talalay Latex 40 ILD
1" Support Stabilization Base Extra Firm Talalay latex
8" Mattress Height
20 Years Limited Warranty 10/10
PLB - Nature *Nature sounds the most familiar, so maybe this one
LatexBLISS uses 450-480 Gram Weight fabric
LatexBLISS Milliken?s Paladin Fire Resistant Barrier
2" Natural Talalay Latex 19 ILD
1" Natural Talalay Latex 28 ILD
6" Natural Talalay Latex 36 ILD
1" Support Stabilization Base Extra Firm Talalay latex
10" Mattress Height
20 Years Limited Warranty 10/10
PLB - Nutrition
LatexBLISS uses 450-480 Gram Weight fabric
LatexBLISS Milliken?s Paladin Fire Resistant Barrier
2" Natural Talalay Latex 28 ILD
2" Natural Talalay Latex 19 ILD
6" Natural Talalay Latex 36 ILD
1" Support Stabilization Base Extra Firm Talalay latex
11" Mattress Height
9" Steel Foundation
20" Overall Mattress & Foundation
20 Years Limited Warranty 10/10
I think these are 1 year newer models, since at the bottom it says they had used polyurathane previously. But finding info that far back is tough. Will e-mail company and ask for help identifying if it will help you. Or maybe bedmart will have the receipt still, though thats like 8-9 years ago.