Hello again, Phoenix.
As always, thanks for the thoughtful and concerned comments. I very much appreciate your time and interest in helping me resolve my pain issues with the mattress. It is so kind of you to share your extensive knowledge with me; Iâd be completely lost without your assistance.
I made it four hours on the mattress before I was in such pain that I had to switch to the couch. Unzipping the cover did help (thanks for the tip!). The topper helped, too. But I still have not experienced this kind of pain on my previous mattressâwhich was old, lumpy and saggy. (With the old mattress I would never wake up stiff. The only thing I did a lot on that mattress was change positions often during the night, and occasional (maybe once every six months or so) sciatica. But not this kind of pain that starts in the lower hip and back and radiates all the way up my spine to my shoulder blades.)
Once I moved to the couch last night, I could feel my muscles literally begin to melt an relax, and within a few hours my pain was greatly reduced. I was able to fall back to sleep for a couple more hours. My couch is made of some kind of foam â not memory foam, but I have no idea of knowing exactly what it isâwith a soft leather covering. It cradles me and allows me to sink into it a bit, but it is still very supportive but not at all firm. (The reason that I say it is supportive is that my spine appears to be in a neutral positionânot a U-shape). I paid a lot for that couch, so maybe there is some kind of higher-end foam in it that doesnât break down. (Iâve had the couch for about 15 years now.) Iâm trying to figure out what is in it. I think if I could find the exact same material that is in my couch foam Iâd try to find a bed with it in a minute. LOL! (Thankfully I was able to take a three-hour nap on the couch yesterday, so I was not completely exhausted when I went to bed last night; just in a LOT of pain which, as I said, I have not had before) As for today, I am in such pain so far today that I can barely stand it while working.)
I was a bit concerned when I read your comment that both Dunlop and Talalay get more firm over time, as that is the opposite of what I want and where I was thinking this would go; I thought the latex would soften a bit over time. Another latex mattress that I looked at in the store, but did not take because it was well over $4,000 and more than I am willing to pay, was a Natura. That was soooooo soft and squishy and heavenly.
Yesterday, I also stopped by a local store that carries a mattress made by Claire bedding to try to compare firmness. The sales person said it was made of six inches of 24 ILD (not a range; exact) and one inch 32 ILD on both sides (itâs flippable), and it was all Talalay. The one inch firm layer was on top, and the softer layer in the middle. Maybe thatâs why that bed felt better to me. Cost of that bed was $2700, so right off the bat it would have been a better deal than the SRâespecially in terms of how comfortable it was! But, I didnât know this store even carried mattresses until after I had bought this torture chamber, so it was too late to even consider that one. Like the Natura, the Claire bedding mattress was very soft and I sunk down in it a lotâvery comfortableâyet my spine was still neutral. The sales associate did say, though, that most customers always call to say the bed is too firm when they first get it, because âlatex softens up a lot and if you just walk across it a few time, the latex will soften and the wool fire barrier will break down, too.â But everyone else in the industry I have spoken to said just the opposite; that latex breaks down, at most 2%. I hear from one person it gets softer over time, I hear from others that it gets firmer. If it truly does get firmer, Iâm really not going to be able to tolerate this thing.
I am not only after a âsoftâ mattress; the reason I went with latex was twofold: no chemicals and it was billed to me as pressure relieving, even if it is a little firmer than traditional foam. But I have not found this pressure relieving at all. It seems to cause more pressure on my body. However, I will give it a few weeks, if I can tolerate it. I really am not sure if I can at this point, though. Aspirin is my new best friend since getting the mattess.
Another thing I noticed both nights with the SR is that it sleeps VERY hot. The first night I thought it was just from the one-inch wool mattress pad that the guy at the store sold me. But last night, I had a topper on top of the wool, and the bed was just as hot. (I keep my room at 60-62 degrees because I like a cool room, so itâs not that the air temperature was too hot.) Tonight I am going to put on my old mattress pad that is not wool, and see if that makes a difference. I will also take your advice and try to tolerate the mattress without the plush topper. That way I will have removed all materials except the mattress pad (old one, not the wool one) and a fitted sheet.
In the meantime, I will walk across the bed 2-3 more times today. (I telecommute for the company I work for, so it will be nice to get out of my desk chair and do a few âbed walksâ throughout the day. (Sigh.) Some people walk their dogs, I walk my bed. LOL!