I need help! I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since September. Here’s the short story:
My old mattress was, well…old. Time for a new one. At the recommendation of lots of friends, I purchased a Tempurpedic at a chain store. (Worst idea ever.) Though the bed was comfortable, I had a CRAZY allergic reaction to it. Tight chest, shortness of breath, itchy/watery eyes, headaches, nausea, rashes, swollen glands. The “off gassing” smell never went away. It drove me NUTS! I went back to the store and they said I had to keep the mattress for 30 days. The smell and symptoms were so bad, I slept in my living room on an air mattress or on the couch. After 30 days, I was allowed to EXCHANGE the mattress (less a $500 fee). BUT since I had had a bad reaction to the memory foam, the salesman recommended that I NOT get a mattress with memory foam. Unfortunately, that only left TWO mattresses in the entire store. They were latex. I chose the less uncomfortable of the two. A week later the new mattress was delivered. I still slept poorly. Aches and pains. And I was still getting sick. Run down, tired, and with continuous flu-like symptoms. It wasn’t until January that it occurred to me that I am likely allergic to THIS bed too. So for the last two weeks I’ve been sleeping on my couch. I’m not sick and all symptoms have gone away.
I’m so frustrated and disgusted by what has happened in my situation as well as learning about how shady this industry is that I feel like giving up. Until I found this website today I was thinking of just buying a cheap mattress just so I’m not sleeping on the couch. But I’m fearful that I’ll have another allergic reaction.
Has anyone had similar issues? If so, how have you dealt with them? Are there mattresses that aren’t jam-packed full of chemicals?
I’m in Los Angeles, so I figure there have to be good shops tucked away that sell a quality product at a reasonable price. After reading the basic information on this site I have a better understanding of what to look for, but I’m not confident about what products will work for me.
If anyone has suggestions and/or recommendations about where to shop, please let me know.
I’m glad to see your symptoms have gone away. You are certainly not the only one who is sensitive or has reacted to some types of memory foam (see here).
There is also more information about latex allergies in post #2 here and the information it links to but the only way to know for sure if you are allergic to latex (which would be very uncommon with the type of latex used in mattresses) would be a latex allergy test. It’s also possible that you were reacting to something else in the mattress (such as glues, a fire barrier, or other substances that may be in the mattress).
What is the make and model of your latex mattress? Many mattresses that are described as a “latex” mattress may only have a thin layer of latex inside it so it may be worthwhile knowing what else is in your mattress.
If you are sensitive to some memory foams and aren’t comfortable with trying other versions and if you aren’t comfortable with latex (at least until you can confirm whether you have an allergy) then that would leave you with some of the other materials that are most commonly found in mattresses which would mainly be polyfoam, innersprings, microcoils, and natural and synthetic fibers. Fortunately there are many mattresses that use these (innersprings and polyfoam in particular). Mattresses that use an innerspring and natural fibers may also be worth considering but they can be more costly. If you are comfortable with polyfoam then I would make sure that it was either manufactured in North America and/or was CertiPur certified.
There are many people who are sensitive to some materials and not others (or some versions of some materials) but it would be important to make sure what they are so that you aren’t ruling out a material that you would be fine with. This can take some detective work and probably some consultations with your doctor or health professional.
While I can’t advise you about what materials you would be OK with because I would have no way of knowing and because that’s more of a medical issue than a mattress issue … there are many good sources for mattresses that use a wide range of materials in the Los Angeles area and some of the better options and possibilities I’m aware of are listed in post #2 here.
What kind of mattresses have you slept on successfully in the past?
