Hi deirai,
I would tell them exactly what you have posted here. They are much more familiar than I am with the options they have available and the changes they have made with other customers in a similar situation and a voice conversation can cover a lot more ground than a more “linear” forum exchange but I’m happy to make a few comments that may be helpful.
I normally don’t rely on what your alignment “feels like” because this is often just the adjustment to a new material. It’s usually more effective to go by specific symptoms on each combination you try and then it’s easier to try and imagine what could be causing a symptom in that specific area. It’s partly educated guesswork and speculation, and partly intuition and imagination.
The first thing I would suggest is that you may be going through both the adjustment period and the initial break in period of the mattress and these will both make a difference so your issue could be self correcting. How long have you been sleeping on the mattress?
The second suggestion is to sleep on each change you make for at least a few days (more than 2) so that your experience can be more predictive of a longer term solution rather than just an anomaly based on the circumstances of a day or two. Each new change can use the experience of the one before it and build on it to test a “theory” about why you are experiencing what you are.
I would also try and describe the specific symptoms on every combination you try and relate any new symptoms on each one and try and quantify any changes in the symptom you are trying to correct (rather than just “this didn’t work”). Every combination you try may provide a clue even if it’s uncomfortable for a different reason.
Your symptom is on the opposite side from where you are in contact with the mattress so this indicates that it could be some kind of “twisting” as you suggested. It’s unlikely that the top 24 ILD layer is too firm for you in combination with the 32 ILD support layer (which is certainly in the range of what would normally be suitable for a side sleeper of your weight and height) so I doubt that you are “twisting” away from excess pressure (although anything is possible because each person can be unique).
It would also be helpful to describe exactly where the “pinching” feeling is coming from (I’m not sure where you mean by “above the pelvis”).
This is probably too firm so it wouldn’t be “comfortable” but it would be useful to know if it made any difference in your original symptoms (the pinching) even if it caused new symptoms (which it would help to describe a little more specifically). “Uncomfortable” is too subjective and vague to really derive any meaning from and it would help to know specifically how and why it was uncomfortable. I would treat each configuration as part of a learning process rather than a potential solution so that everything you do is part of identifying the cause behind your original symptom. How long did you sleep on just the base layer and what happened to your original symptom? Was there any change and was it better or worse?
Again … how long did you try it on the floor (at least several days with every test is a good idea) and what were the specific changes that you noticed (in your original symptoms and any new ones). It’s also promising that the hip adjustment seemed to help. How long have you slept on this configuration (with the firmer pelvic zone)? I’m also assuming that you sleep exclusively on your side is this correct?
I would take things one step at a time and use the specific changes and symptoms you notice with each step to gather the information you will need that can identify the issue that needs correcting. This is the “detective work” part of the process which can hopefully be translated into the “solution” part of the process.
Some other possibilities that may be worth testing include …
It may be helpful to put a pillow between your knees to see if this helps keep your top leg higher or changes what you are feeling in case this is part of the problem.
Removing the top cover and sleeping more directly on the top latex to see how this affects things.
Some of the zoning suggestions in post #11 here may also be useful (using something in between the layers or under the mattress that can help “lift up” the pelvis along with the laxeby)
Keep in mind that none of these are meant to “be” solutions (although they may end up becoming one) … they are meant to help “identify” solutions … even if they are uncomfortable and wouldn’t be the final choice.
I think it’s way to early to try and speculate about specific solutions because I have no clarity about the underlying cause. The first step is to find out what helps and what doesn’t and the degree of change that you notice on each one using the options you have available and then to try and “translate” the ones that helped into a solution.
Phoenix