How to look for and find the best mattress ... for YOU! ***READ FIRST***

[phoenix]

Hi girl_toronto,

I switched your post to your own topic so it wouldn’t get mixed in with a more general topic.

In the beginning I was able to sleep well for about a week. However for the past few weeks I have been waking up at 5 or 6am with pain in the middle of my back or lower back i’m not sure. I try sleeping in different position and putting pillows in between my knees but it doesnt help. Do you think this could be caused by the mattress? The pain goes away slowly after i get up and walk around for a while.

It’s certainly possible that your mattress is too soft which would be a common cause of lower back pain that goes away after you get up but of course I can’t know for certain.

Do you think a soft mattress would be better or a firm one? From my observation a soft mattress would feel better for my hip. The store salesperson said if i want a soft mattress the only options they have are the Sealy Optimum Elation Gold, iComfort Epic and Kingsdown Kennedy. Please help me. I really need help deciding what mattress to purchase. Thank you.

Only you can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone to be able to suggest a specific mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), health conditions, individual circumstances, or “theory at a distance” (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). Your best chance of success in choosing the most suitable mattress will be to use the testing guidelines in step 4 of the mattress shopping tutorial.

Unfortunately, and like many of the members here that have been in a similar situation, you are in a somewhat difficult position where you need to exchange a mattress at a store that I would normally suggest avoiding and where there may not be any particularly good quality/value options available to you.

There are some suggestions and ideas in post #2 here about the two main strategies that you can use that can help you make the best of a difficult situation. There is also more in post #13 here about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase or exchange that may be helpful as well.

Phoenix