Hi nwilson97477,
I’m not sure how long you have been sleeping on your new mattress but I would keep in mind that there will be a break in and adjustment period for any new mattress or sleeping system as the mattress loses any of it’s “false firmness” and the cover stretches and loosens a little and the materials settle and your body gets used to a sleeping surface that is different from what it is used to (see post #3 here). This could typically be a few weeks but it can be shorter or longer depending on the specifics of the person and the mattress (higher density materials can take longer) and it can be surprising to some people how much their sleeping experience can change over the course of the first few weeks.
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 here.
It’s possible that your symptoms of could be the result of a pillow issue which can often lead to upper body symptoms if your head and neck aren’t in good alignment. 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. Like mattresses … there are certain “needs” that depend on body type and sleeping positions but with pillows, personal preferences play a more important role because the face is much more sensitive to textures, temperature, smells, and other more subjective “feel” based properties of a pillow. There is more about choosing pillows in the pillow thread here and the other topics and sources of information that it links to that may be helpful as well. If your pillow is either too thin or too thick it can lead to pain or discomfort in the neck, shoulders, or upper body.
It’s also possible that your mattress could be a little too firm and isn’t allowing your shoulders to sink in far enough which can also result in upper body alignment issues although of course I can only guess at the cause of your “symptoms” because I can’t feel what you feel on the mattress.
It’s not surprising that you didn’t feel any noticeable difference with this layering combination since with our lighter weight changing the bottom layers would have less effect on what you feel and on your sleeping experience than changing the layers that are closer to the sleeping surface and as a bottom layer a medium Dunlop would be very similar to a medium Talalay layer that was in the same firmness range.
Again with your lighter weight you are less likely to notice a significant difference by changing the bottom layer from a medium to a firm and changing the middle or top layer would generally make a bigger difference in your sleeping experience.
The best suggestion I could make would be to have a more detailed phone conversation with SleepEZ to ask them for their suggestions and guidance because with their knowledge about their own mattresses and their many years of experience with helping their customers that have similar experiences or symptoms to your own they would be the most reliable source of guidance. A phone call is also a much more effective way to communicate more detailed and complex information and allows for real time interaction as well (see post #4 here).
In most cases I would tend to avoid using two layers of soft latex but if you need some additional softness and the only option is to replace the middle medium layer with a soft layer then it may be worth considering replacing your middle medium Talalay layer with soft Dunlop because Dunlop is a little more “supportive” than Talalay and may be a little less risky than using two soft Talalay layers but once again I would discuss this with SleepEZ before making an exchange.
Another option would be to try unzipping the top of the cover and sleeping with your mattress protector and sheets directly on the latex (without the mattress cover in between them) and see if this improves the ability of the latex to contour to the shape of your body which may make some difference as well.
If your mattress is too firm then some of the suggestions in post #2 here may also be helpful as well.
Phoenix