Hello folks,
My specs: 34 year old male of average height, 145 pounds/65kg, no preexisting health conditions or areas of pain, 75% back, 20% side sleeper, 5% stomach sleeper. I use Costco’s Charisma 400 count Egyptian cotton sheets – I believe the same sheets our Administrator, Phoenix, attests to using. For special occasions, I use Rayon sheets.
I purchased a Queen-sized IKEA Heggedal mattress (Innerspring + latex) about a month ago, and it’s almost exactly what I need, but not quite. I am not a heavy person and I’m mostly a back sleeper, so I thought this level of high firmness would be ideal, but after sleeping on it a few days, I started to wake up with mild lower back pain in the lumbar area – I think I’m not getting support in that area, i.e., it’s almost arching itself off the mattress.
First, I tried the matching IKEA latex topper, the Sultan Torod, and to be honest, I think it made the situation worse. I really don’t know why that was – maybe it was the tufting, or maybe it’s the same medium-firmness as the latex already in the mattress? I sheepishly returned the topper to IKEA.
Next, I tried a Costco 3" Novaform gel-infused memory foam topper. This was successful at rectifying the problem, and I’d love to love it, but I just can’t keep it – it’s too heat-retaining and mobility-restraining. IMO, gel-infused memory foam is snake oil, it doesn’t keep you cool for long, and any memory foam of this thickness might as well be plaster of paris – it definitely puts a damper on spontaneous minor intimacies.
Most recently, I tried a cheap 1.5" “memory foam” from Wal-Mart. This stuff appears to have little to no memory abilities at all, it’s clearly very cheap (low density?) stuff. But after sleeping on it a few days, I think it’s doing the job. But I won’t be keeping this either, as it doesn’t fit my mattress right, and anyway I’m sure there’s got to be something better out there that you folks can recommend. It still has some of the memory-foam bondage of its thicker Costco cousin, but in truth it isn’t so bad. Still, nothing like what I remember the IKEA latex topper being like – so resilient, that one made spontaneous movement effortless. You didn’t feel like a half-embalmed mummy.
Would a [b]soft /b latex topper of 1.5-2" be the next recommended trial here, perhaps covered with a thin wool mattress pad to aid in heat dispersal? I know this is in theory similar to what I tried with the IKEA topper, but my guess is there’s just something particular to their latex topper that ruins it for me. Maybe it’s too firm. Maybe the tufted area was where my lower back went seeking support.
Or how about something like the Extra Plush Bamboo Fitted Mattress Topper, by ExceptionalSheets at Amazon?
I’ve been fortunate so far in being allowed to return those items I was unhappy with. My next purchases, however, won’t be so easily returnable. If you kind and intelligent folks could assist me in avoiding the worst of mistakes, and perhaps even assist in the achievement of (humble, non-sacrilegious and near-) perfection, I would be ever so appreciative.
Very Sincerely,
-Chad