Looking for help fine tuning bed setup

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hello all. Thank you for taking the time to read this topic. I’ve been a quiet lurker/student and it’s helped me get a good setup. But I’m a little lost at this point, and hope to find some direction.

I’m a 5’-11" male weighing 178 lbs; side sleeper. I’ve been having off and on issues with my sciatic nerve for a few years now. Through physical therapy it’s gotten a lot better, but thought I should get a new bed just in case it was contributing. My old mattress was a 15 year old Spring Air, it was a soft mattress.

In August, of this year, we purchased a double sided mattress from Custom Comfort Mattress, the Renew 100. It is a 5 turn coil, with 2 layers of tufted cotton on each side. It is a firm mattress. Having read posts on The Mattress Underground (TUG), we took the advice given and purchased a 2" latex topper as a comfort layer from Brooklyn Bedding (BB).

The first topper I tried was a 2" 28 ILD. I did not like the feel of it, something about it reminded me of our previous mattress. So I exchanged it for a 3" 14 ILD, which was too cushy, I felt I sank far enough that it was bending me out of alignment. So I exchanged it for a 2" 14 ILD which felt fantastic. I LOVED the cush feel. The ONLY issue was that I was waking up with pressure soreness on my hip and shoulders. At this point I had to make a choice as to which topper to send back. Naturally BB wanted a returned topper before sending out another exchange. By the way, BB was amazing. They truly have great patient people working there. Anyways, I switched back and forth comparing the 2" 14 ILD with the 3" 14 ILD. In the end, though I loved the feel of the 2", the 3" did not give me pressure pain in the morning. So decided to send back the 2", though I still did not like the amount of sinking I felt in the 3". Once BB recieved the 2" I sent out for another exchange, a 2" 19 ILD. And that is where we are currently, I like it. But I don’t love it. We’ve been sleeping on this for a few nights now and I haven’t woken up with the pressure point soreness, though I feel like I could use a little more support for my side sleeping. Also, I’m really missing the cush feel from the 2" 14 ILD. I really did love that feel.

At this point I feel I’m at a point of fine tuning, and I’m lost. The 19 ILD seems to be the best “base” that works for my side sleeping and comfort; although not perfect. Now I’m hoping to find an additional layer that will give me that little bit of extra cush, without making me feel like I’m sinking (like the 3" 14 ILD did). At first I thought perhaps just a pad on top of the topper. But I did not know what to look for in pad quality that wouldn’t compromise the quality of topper and mattress underneath. I’d hate to end up with a pad that would eventually wear unevenly and lead to more alignment pain issues.

Thank you in advance for helping me figure out this sleep puzzle.

Regards,

Jorge

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Hi Jorge,

Having read what you wrote, it seems to me maybe a 3" 19-23 might fit what you’re seeking. My rational is this:

  • the 2" 19 is close, you’re looking for a bit more support
  • the thicker material will let you sink in a touch more / may feel a touch softer
  • it is less likely to cause alignment issues, like 3" of the 14 caused

Mostly, I just picked the option you didn’t say you tried that seems to be the middle point of all your tests :wink:

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Hi narino,

We are dealing with three things and each of them may have different symptoms. One is alignment, one is pressure relief, and one is “feel”.

A few comments and questions …

From the sounds of things the 2" 28 ILD was a “feel” issue but there were no issues with pressure relief or alignment?

Did you have any actual symptoms with the 3" 14 ILD or was this just a “feel” issue as well. If this relieved pressure on your side then it may have been OK because alignment issues would normally happen on your back.

With the 2" 14 ILD it was probably so soft and thin enough that you were still feeling too much of the firmness of the mattress underneath which usually indicates that either you need a little bit firmer or thicker both of which can help isolate you from the firmness of the mattress underneath.

Now that you have the 2" of 19 ILD it seems that it also provides good pressure relief and isolates you better from the mattress below it better than the 2" of 14 ILD but the “feel” isn’t quite right?

A 1" layer of 14 ILD on top of the 19 ILD may give you some of the “feel” that you liked from the 14 ILD toppers or 3" of 19 ILD may also do the trick.

I’m not quite clear though why the 3" of 14 ILD wasn’t working or what specific symptoms you had when you slept on it.

Phoenix

PS: I had this reply window up for a few hours and I see that dn has already mentioned one of the two suggestions :slight_smile: