When I’m in a hotel or somewhere, I sleep about the same (don’t toss and turn, I don’t wake up, etc), but the difference is, when I sleep on my own mattress, I wake up with HORRIBLE lower back pain. My wife wakes up with bad hip pain. We’ve had out pillowtop mattress for 6 years now. We were suckered into a pillowtop because we were uneducated with mattresses at the time.
Is this the life of it? How do these pictures of the mattress look? Pretty good, Okay or Pretty bad? lol - I just can’t really afford a new mattress at all right now. Is there anything we can do to make it more comfortable until we can afford one?
Thanks for everyone’s help. It’s much, much appreciated!!!
There is more about hotel mattresses in post #3 here and the posts it links to. In most cases they are lower quality and more costly versions of similar consumer mattresses sold by major brands in retail stores.
These are just pictures of the outside of your mattress and they don’t provide any meaningful information about your mattress. It does look like there is some sagging in your mattress but a picture of the mattress lying flat on the floor with a straight edge (such as a yardstick or broom handle) over the sags would show this more clearly. If there are impressions in the mattress that are deeper than your warranty exclusions and there are no stains on your mattress of any type and your mattress is still under warranty then you may qualify for a warranty exchange.
If your mattress is too soft or has developed soft spots or is sagging (which is the most likely cause of back pain) then there are really no great or simple solutions to fix it but there are some suggestions in post #4 here that may be helpful on a partial or temporary basis.
Unfortunately your mattress most likely has some low quality materials in the pillowtop and comfort layers and outside of the previous suggestions which may provide some temporary or partial relief … after 6 years it has probably reached the end of its useful life.
That was very helpful… thank you! My wife and I have been looking at website reviews on places like sleeplikethedead.com and places like that, and have went in and laid on a few different kinds. Problem is, we love temperpedic, but can’t afford it. I can only spend about $1500 on a King mattress (we already have box springs we can use, etc), but we just don’t know what to get. We don’t want it too soft, or too hard, but something in the middle… definitely not a pillowtop… Any recommendations? Thanks again for the help!
There are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone that can’t feel what you feel or see you on a mattress to make specific mattress recommendations for someone else out of all the thousands of mattresses that are available in the market (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here) but I’m happy to help with “how” to choose rather than “what” to choose.
The first place I would start is the mattress shopping tutorial here which has all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choices … and know how and why to avoid the worst ones.
The optional online step in the tutorial post also includes a link to a list of some of the better online memory foam options I’m aware of and many of them make mattresses that are reasonable approximations of Tempurpedic mattresses and use similar or in some cases better quality materials and sell for significantly lower prices including some that are inside your budget range.
There may also be some local manufacturers or retailers that would be worth considering and if you let me know your city or zip code I’d be happy to let you know about any of better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area.