I write seeking guidance in DIY’ing a latex mattress on the “very cheap.”
I developed fibromyalgia about two years ago. I’m a 5’10" female, but I went from 160 to 235 lb. in under a year (crappy drugs, coupled with inactivity from what becomes almost a fear of physical movement).
I have had the original, entirely polyfoam Tuft & Needle mattress since November of 2018; I was never a huge fan, honestly, but I noticed that as I began to gain weight, it quickly became more and more uncomfortable. I normally sleep on my side or my back, but, for instance, if I fall asleep on my back, I can’t turn over to my side without acute pain. And even sleeping on my side, the dull pain in my lower back and my shoulders affects my energy and mood all day. I’m no expert, but my back is telling me this thing just doesn’t supply enough support to keep my spine in alignment.
I’d be buying the best mattress I could afford right now if I could afford to, but I’m on a stringent fixed income; I think my maximum “comfortable” budget would be $900.00 and that would be really pushing it. To do everything short of buying a new mattress, I bought a Lucid 3" thick memory foam topper in late October (Black Friday came early this year: it was $40.00), and stuffed ¼" plus of cardboard under the mattress for support. That hack made sleeping more comfortable, but I still woke up with a bad back. And now it’s pretty much as bad as it was previously. So, I’ve decided to DIY it, possibly in stages.
I’ve done a lot of research—thank you, Mattress Underground!—and have at least a general sense of what I need. Being this heavy, I need thicker and somewhat firmer layers than if I was thinner, still accounting for the need for a soft contact with my joints and pressure points. Further, even as I’m losing weight, memory foam is not going to cut it: latex seems like the right answer. And sleeping on my side and back AND needing the softest possible top layer for my pressure points plus a great deal of support translates into one 2-3" soft layer with another, firmer 2-3" layer below.
I spoke with sales reps at both Arizona online DIY shops and they both had useful and creative, albeit somewhat contradictory, advice.
The first rep suggested two layers using all Talalay “because that is best for fibromyalgia,” with a 2" layer on top of 19 ILD and a 2" layer below of 28 ILD. For the base, he suggested the stopgap measure of flipping over my T&N mattress.
The second rep agreed that a top layer of 19 ILD Talalay was ideal but suggested that I should look to getting a 3" layer and stressed that I should buy its own quality cover to avoid compression. He disagreed with the first rep’s advice about the second layer, saying that I could use a medium Dunlop, and that 2" thick should suffice if I used 3" of Talalay for the first layer, thereby putting more toward the Talalay while saving on the second layer. His creative idea for the base was to buy an inexpensive foam mattress. He also stressed that at my weight, I should not use any type of springs; I felt this was contradictory to much of what I’ve read, but perhaps the coil gauge on those available to the public is insufficient? I know 12 or 13 gauge are ideal if you’re heavy, but I beyond that, I have very little insight into coils.
I’ll state here as a sidenote: the second salesperson seemed much more interested in helping me and was even giving information he knew was to his detriment since he didn’t carry some items and I unfortunately can’t buy the Talalay from him. That–and my inherent agreement that a second layer of Talalay isn’t per se necessary–make me trust him a tad more.
In any case, they both did give me good information, and that, coupled with the literal outlining of your website lol, leads me to lean toward taking a bit of each’s advice: putting my money into a 3" blended Talalay topper with a cover, and using it on top of the memory foam topper I have, on the reverse side of my Tuft & Needle. But I really wanted to get some feedback from the community here before I pulled the trigger (especially Phoenix and any other “pros”).
I should note that, to test out how the T&N back feels, I have flipped the mattress and been sleeping on it with the topper for the past two nights. It is really, firm, as one would expect, so it isn’t terribly comfortable for sleeping on my side, but, praise be lol: I wake up with absolutely no back pain and seriously feel like a new person. Clearly, I need maximum support—but also pressure point relief. So, this seems like a possibly good short-term route—in lieu of something more permanent, should you have a suggestion for it. I know the memory foam topper won’t last too much longer; at some point I’ll need to buy both a transition layer/second topper and some sort of base—and I do like Rep 2’s suggestion of buying a cheap, extra firm mattress to use as a base—ideally a flippable one.
So just to put this all in specific question format, if you will:
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At my weight/height, sleeping on my side predominantly but also my back, would you agree that a 19 ILD Talalay topper is a good idea, or do you think I need something firmer? What about the thickness of 3 inches versus two? Based on your write up on sleep position and weight, I figured that a 3" soft comfort layer with a 2-3" medium transition layer would be ideal—it would provide extra thickness for my weight, prevent me from hitting the base layer and prevent me from hitting the firm support layer; but would 19 ILD be too soft given my weight?
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What do you think about the temporary hack of using the back of the T&N bed/memory foam topper/Talalay topper? Is there any problem in putting a Talalay topper over a memory foam topper in the short term? Again, I plan to replace it with Dunlop, but it seems a waste to toss what is a perfectly functional topper right now if I can use it as a “transition layer” (albeit a very soft one). And if it doesn’t work, I can go straight to buying a medium Dunlop; as for Dunlop, do you think 28 and 2 inches is good?
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Do you agree with the second sales rep that DIY’ing a bed with pocket coils is a bad idea for someone w/ my BMI? This is not something I’ve seen on MU, so I was a little surprised. Although I got to thinking and really, a firm 6" wedge of polyfoam 1.8 lb./cu ft or flippable mattress might be ideal.
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Entirely separate from the issue of a DIY bed … after experiencing the incredible difference of the back of the T&N, I was talking with my best friend about this. He suggested that perhaps I should just bite the bullet and get a bed in a range I hadn’t considered (e.g., between $1,000 and $2,000), so I would have the security of a warranty and/or a good company willing to switch out layers to make sure that the bed works—so that I wouldn’t just be stuck with what I get. And my credit is quite good; I just dread the notion of tightening the belt further for monthly payments when it’s so hard to get through the month now. But that sort of security, and customer service, could make it worth it. If there was a mattress—or vendor—out there that would be a good fit, with a warranty/customer service to switch out layers etc., who would you nominate?
Thank you for all the work of the volunteers here and Phoenix, for your response to my previous question about the iffy foam shop. Amazing what you all do.
Looking forward to hearing back from anyone able to help, and please let me know if you need me to clarify anything; I apologize for the novel-length post.
anoukaimee
