Hi DeAngelis,
Welcome to our mattress forum :).
I am sorry that the Cedar mattress is not working out for you. While it’s not possible to “diagnose” mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty because they can be very complex and there are too many unique unknowns, variables, and complexities involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP or any “symptoms” they experience … there is more about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 discussing back pains mattress, .
I would be cautious about investing in “another” topper of a material that you don’t know if you like. Wool is a wonderful material for many people and it would certainly help with your memory foam topper sleeping hot issue, but it is not really possible for us to predict if this would be the best option for you. Wool is not really the best pressure-relieving material. Wool will compress by about 30% of its thickness as you sleep on it over time and this will happen faster in the areas you sleep more often or under the heavier parts of the body than it will in the areas that you sleep on less or under areas of your body that are lighter. It will tend to even out over time as you spend more time on the areas that you sleep on less often and they “catch” up to the areas that you sleep on more often over the course of the first few months (up to about 6 months or so) but it shouldn’t have a significant effect on the comfort or support of the mattress.
Brentwood does a very nice job listing their specs on the Costco website. The coil unit is the - 8-inch Quantum® Edge Combizone support unit by Leggett & Platt®. This is well known, high quality, but pretty firm coil unit that many people use. In general, issues with “pain” earlier in the night tend to be surface comfort related, and issues with “pain” in the morning tend to be more alignment (deep support) related. Clearly, the bare bed (without the topper) seems to be too firm for your sleep needs. You don’t mention the density, ILD and the condition of the 2-year-old memory foam topper you added in the second phase but it seems that it created some alignment issues for your back sleeping. Also, be sure that your pillow is not too thick (if you’re using one) as a suitable pillow is an essential part of good alignment for the head and neck and upper body because the gap between the head and the mattress and the curve of the cervical spine needs to be supported just like all other parts of the spine.
While you had many restless nights and you have reached your “limit with this bed” … as you still have plenty of time to return it, you may still wish to experiment with a suitable pillow and a slightly firmer topper than the 2 years Memory foam topper you used to see if it makes any difference and in the process collect some more data points for the next purchase … I always refrain to tell someone to start over while they still have some options as it is best to first try to understand the underlying cause of the issues you are having.
Let us know if you have other questions.
Phoenix