Hi Phoenix,
You probably remember me from my earlier posts on the ‘memory foam mattress topper made me sick’. Long story short, I threw out the topper, was refunded by the company, and I am now sleeping on the living room couch (and I am not talking a sofa bed…I am talking literally, the couch). It’s downright terrible, however, not as terrible as sleeping on the godawful Sealy mattress I had bought, to replace another mattress I’d bought prior to that, prior to doing a comfort exchange, all through Sleep Country…how I hate the mere sight of their stores. (edit: btw, when I was at sleep country on one of my last trips, I actually experienced seeing and hearing the sales people, of which there were about 4 because it was a busy weekend, they literally were fighting over customers: “I was speaking to that couple first so I’m closing that sale” - that kind of deal, and then they’d quickly switch back to being fake-nice and sales-y to the people in the store. Yuck.)
Allow me to elaborate - my dissatisfaction with the Sealy stems from the fact that initially, I had owned a Sealy, which I loved, until I moved in with my boyfriend and we bought a king size Sealy. Both were soft, plush foam-topped inner springs. However, the king size innerspring Sealy had a defect - it seems as though the mattress’s denser, ‘inner support core’ had been installed vertically, instead of horizontally, and this caused both of us to roll into our own respective little ‘valleys’ with no lower back support. (Compared to sleeping on the couch, this was great, in retrospect.) But at the time, this was a concern. So I called for an inspector, who said he didn’t notice enough ‘sag’ (has to be at least something like 2 inches of visible sag). I told him if I can feel it, can’t he? Well, that drove him to his default reaction of saying he’ll just say that it is making ‘noise’, as he pushed vigorously into to the mattress to fabricate evidence for his white lie which he then submitted for my exchange.
I went back to the store with my boyfriend, not satisfied with my ‘valley’ mattress, and we settled on a king size Simmons innerspring with memory foam top. It was their top of the line, which they said was in a lot of hotels. My boyfriend liked it, and I liked it enough to agree. Two weeks later of sleeping on it, I was waking up with pinched shoulders and pinched hips, and it started to hurt. It seems this memory foam had lost it’s memory, and didn’t exactly spring back into its original shape. So I marched back to Sleep country and said I want to do a comfort exchange, but of course, that option was exhausted since that mattress had been in exchange of the previous King Sealy. So I thought I had no other choice but to start from scratch…once again at sleep country. How wrong I was to do that. So counting, I’d already bought a King Sealy, and also paid the balance for the upgraded exchange for the Simmons.
Next to defeated, I went back several times and decided to give my boyfriend the Twin XL version of his Simmons, and I would pick the updated version of the Sealy in Twin XL that I had exchanged in the first place (ironic, no?) I tried all the mattresses again, and between another ‘soft’ Simmons and the newer version of the Sealy, I picked the Sealy. EXCEPT this time, I was dealing with apples and oranges, but I didn’t know that until I received the mattress. The sales person had mentioned in the store that the new version of the same Sealy now had no innerspring coils - it was layered foam throughout. He said this increased the durability of the product. I thought that if what I felt in the store was what I would feel at home, that I had made a good choice. Unfortunately for me, this was not the case. The Twin XL Sealy that arrived was HARD AS A ROCK. Nothing compared to the softness of the King size Sealy in the showroom. Talk about a misleading ‘show room feel’!!! I went back and complained, and their only excuse was that the density was increased since it was a smaller cut of foam in the Twin XL versus the King. I call BS on that one. They suggested a foam topper. That’s when I knew I was in a catch 22 situation of the largest kind. So counting, add the two new Twin XL mattresses to my bed budget. That’s close to $8,000 CAD. I shudder to think about this. I am not a wealthy person by any means! I take public transit to work for goodness sakes. (edit: I also learned that Sleep Country was the only retailer who manufactured the Sealy with all-foam interior - other retailers were not, apparently. Not sure why. The foam is possibly cheaper to produce and install, and has less chance of the sagging of innerspring, I am guessing. Although I found it really does not add to the comfort. It’s like saying a brick is now more comfortable than a steel scrubbing pad when you throw some plush foam over it…I feel that the quality of foam they are replacing the springs with is much less responsive to the body, and therefore, much less comfortable, and clearly, the outcome of the ‘feel’ cannot be predicted in their manufacturing process from the smaller to the larger sizes, and varies GREATLY from small to large).
Anyways, completely traumatized by this, I thought, well heck, I need to stop throwing money at this mattress situation, because my boyfriend will label me insane. So I bought a foam mattress topper on amazon.com based on a recommendation from a friend. Well, I bought the 3 inch and then the 2 inch. Neither ameliorated the situation. I was waking up stiff, sore, and contorted. After 4 months of that, I decided, this is not working. I tossed these mattress toppers and decided, I’m sleeping on the couch, dammit. So that is where I have been for 5 months now, and I have developed chronic lower back/hip/leg pain as a result. It is present from morning till night. It hurts to sit now as I type. I don’t think it is wise to damage my body for the sake of avoiding another mattress shenanigan, but this is where I am now.
I visited Soma mattresses twice. I thought one of the plusher Green Sleep mattresses were lovely (the one with the dunlop core, and the softer talalay ‘pillow top’), and then I tried the Acadia 4.0 from Obasan…and I nearly barfed when I saw the price for a King, lol. So here I am, knowing full well that I can only sleep on the best of the best, the softest of the softest latex foam mattresses. Add to the fact that I have been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism / Grave’s disease (doctor is still hoping that this is a glitch from taking too many ill-prescribed iodine supplements and that my levels will go back to normal) which is a type of autoimmune reaction, meaning I am probably sensitive to chemicals and bad stuff in mattresses at this point.
I briefly considered going to Essentia because I know that their mattresses are super comfortable, but then I re-read all your mattress forum threads on this company and I quickly remembered why I didn’t check them out the first time. I hate being ‘taken’ for my money by marketing, so I would hesitate to consider them, especially when I want a product that will not harm my spine/hips, AND will not harm my autoimmune system.
@Phoenix - I haven’t visited Dormio yet, and I am wondering, could you suggest any mattresses from Dormio that are the equivalent or similar to the Acadia 4.0 by Obasan? I know that Obasan is high quality organic latex foam. And the Acadia 4.0 seemed, if I remember correctly, that I would find it comfortable and supportive, given my side-sleeping, and my current hip/lower back chronic pain issues from the couch sleeping.
I think I will have to bite the bullet on the price, once again, but I suspect that i will be happier with my purchase, health wise and comfort wise if I choose correctly between Dormio or Soma (Obasan / Green Sleep).
Thanks for reading.
