Memory Foam Beds & Shocking Customer Experiences
Yesterday I received a phone call from a repeat customer who wanted to order some more latex toppers for a beach house she had just inherited in Florida. She was sharing with me stories about her experiences with memory foam mattresses and I asked her to put it in writing because even though I know and preach against memory foam it would be better for people to hear from someone other than myself. Whether the Memory Foam in her experiences was certified or not I have no way of knowing but below is a copy of her testimonial and should be read by everyone who is considering memory foam mattresses.
Dear Ken,
I would like to take this opportunity to share with you and others my personal experience with memory foam. I slept on a memory foam bed for approximately 6 years. The decline in my health was dramatic. I experienced severe fibromyalgia, swelling, and overall weakness. It got to the point I had trouble walking and getting through my day. I was blessed to travel abroad for nearly a month to celebrate my 50th birthday, and while away my health rapidly improved with each day. I became stronger and felt much better …actually almost fully recovered by the end of my trip. Upon returning home and sleeping in the memory foam bed I had a horrible reaction. I woke up in the middle of the night vomiting and swollen. It was at that point we connected my poor health issues with the memory foam bed. Once the memory foam was replaced by a natural latex bed those negative health issues have never returned. I did subsequently develop breast cancer (although I do not carry the gene for this) and I often wonder if sleeping on this toxic bed for so many years played a hand in the development of this disease. Unfortunately, at the time my whole house had memory foam beds. We had to get rid of all the beds in our home and replace them all to rid my family of the toxins from those beds.
In addition to my personal health issues, several family members also experienced ill effects from these beds and we had not realized the connection until I replaced the beds. My high school-aged son would wake up nauseous every day. He was unable to eat breakfast every single day. He stated that after being at school several hours his nausea would subside and he would be able to eat. I attributed this to stress. However, once his bed was replaced he was fine each and every morning. We realized the nausea was from sleeping on memory foam and breathing in all the off-gassing/ toxins from the foam.
My nephew also suffered from sleeping on a memory foam pillow. He developed mouth sores and the doctors could not understand why they were so resistant to healing. This went on for months. My sister in law was telling me about his trouble and how he is losing weight because the sores were so painful and he had difficulty eating. I asked if he slept on memory foam. He had a regular innerspring and foam bed but had a memory foam pillow. I suggested she replace the pillow and sure enough, shortly after discarding the memory foam pillow the mouth sores healed and he has been fine ever since.
One day I was wearing a particular bra and unbeknownst to me, the lining was memory foam. All I knew was that my breasts were burning and uncomfortable. I called the company to find out that memory foam was in the cup lining. Obviously, I am quite sensitive to memory foam…maybe even allergic. But I wonder … what are the toxic chemicals doing to people who are not as sensitive as I am? They are wearing this stuff, breathing in the outgassing of this foam, they are laying on it night after night and seemingly poisoning their bodies and damaging their immune systems.
The final personal experience I’d like to share was truly devastating. Our beautiful dog, a four-year-old shih tzu was sleeping on our bed one night and in the morning he was very lethargic. I left him a couple more hours to rest and returned to take him for his morning walk around 10 a.m. and found him unresponsive. I rushed him to the vet where he was diagnosed with autoimmune hemolytic anemia. They treated him but ultimately he did pass away from this autoimmune disease and the vet felt that the outgassing of the bed probably was the cause/trigger that caused him to develop this condition.
These are just my experiences, but I believe that memory foam is a dangerous and toxic material that is known to outgas for the life of the foam. This material is composed of many known chemicals and carcinogens that are hazardous to our health, and should not be used especially for beds. We spend up to a third of our life sleeping and to be spending that much time on something known to contain toxic chemicals is insane. I am so sorry I spent to much time on this bed before I was “educated” to its harmful effects and enlightened to understand the healthy natural or organic options that have been available. I now sleep on a 100% natural Talalay latex mattress and have a natural latex mattress toppers on all our beds. Please do your research.
Sincerely,K
Ken Hightower ~ CEO & Founder of Arizona Premium Mattress Company
Thursday, 15 August 2019.