I purchased a serta icomfort mattress set and have slept on it for three nights now. I have to say its the most comfortable mattress ive ever slept on. All three nights have been wonderfull, however since the first night ive had chest pain around my heart and also some pain in my left shoulder. I believe its respiratory, and that its coming from the chemicals in the mattress off gassing. When i go run the pain around my heart becomes really severe. My question is is this normal? Has anyone else experienced anything similar? Im goin to sleep on the couch for a few nights and try to let this mattress air out (something i neglected to do when i recieved it). Do you think this will help. I really like this mattress and dont want to get rid of it. What do you guys think? Any help would be appreciated
I wouldn’t call this “normal” no for most people but it can certainly happen with foam that isn’t cured properly or that wasn’t aired out for long enough when it was manufactured before it was wrapped in plastic. There may be some batches that are worse than the norm. Some people can also be more sensitive than others and there is certainly a long list of people that have been affected by some types of memory foam in particular as you can see here.
I have also experienced some very unnerving “symptoms” from memory foam offgassing with another brand even though I am not normally sensitive to memory foam.
In most cases it goes away fairly quickly when you air out the mattress (or at least to levels that are below most people’s tolerance threshhold) but if it returns after a few days of airing out when you use the mattress again I would seriously consider exchanging it for another one.
Thanks for the advice phoenix. That was sort of what I had in mind. I’ll let my pain go away and let the mattress air out, then try it one more time and see what happens. How long do you recommend I give the mattress to air out. Thanks!8
While this might be related to off gassing, chest and shoulder pain should not be ignored. I lost my dad to a heart attack that was ignored for too long. I wasn’t there to call 911 when it should have been called. Better safe than sorry.
I should first of all say “ditto” to the other members and I also wouldn’t take these types of pain lightly. I was remiss on not saying the same thing in my first reply.
Normally a couple of days is enough to reduce the odor to levels that are more acceptable but this can vary (and a fan nearby or an open window and good ventilation and putting the mattress on its edge may help). It may also be useful to walk on the surface as well to break open some of the cells and speed up the process and it would be unusual for it to take more than a week for it to be reduced to the degree that the odor was still noticeable for most people. I would also keep in mind though that some people are more sensitive than others and also that it may also be defective so I wouldn’t “tolerate” it for any longer than seemed reasonable to you and I would even consider exchanging it regardless if it’s clear that it’s the cause of your symptoms because some VOC’s are odorless even though they can still cause issues.
In my own case with the topper experience I mentioned … after a couple of weeks it was still causing symptoms for both of us (which was fairly good evidence that it was the topper itself and not our sensitivity to something that was “normal”) and we returned it because the symptoms were clearly connected to the topper and it wasn’t worth it to me to keep it and wait for it to be OK and still wonder if what I couldn’t smell was still causing effects that weren’t as obvious. The smell itself wasn’t as big an issue as the symptoms in our case.
Well, i went to the doctor and it turns out I have a deflated lung. Not sure what caused it but doctors say the mattress is fine, just a crazy coincidence. Thanks to all for your help.
I hope that you are recovering and feeling better. To some degree I guess it’s good news that it wasn’t the mattress … although it’s also not good news at all.
I’m also curious how that could happen outside of a fall or trauma or something that someone would know had happened.
The doctors arn’t really sure what caused it. They said that if you smoke it raises your risk or if your tall and thin. I dont smoke but I am tall and thin. They have to put a tube in your chest to pull the air out so the lung can reinflate. Its not as painfull as it sounds but its not fun either. Doctor said I should be just fine though. Thanks for everything guys!