Hi udoknowjac,
Iâm always happy to answer any questions that I can but I canât speak to how any combination of materials will âfeelâ for any specific person because there are too many variables in both people and combinations of materials to be able to predict this with any certainty.
I or some of the more knowledgeable members of the site can certainly help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress relative to your weight that you may be considering, act as a fact check, talk about the pros and cons of different materials, or answer many of the specific questions you may have along the way that donât involve what you will âfeelâ on a mattress, and help with âhowâ to choose but only you can decide which specific mattress, topper, manufacturer, or combination of materials is âbest for youâ regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or whether anyone else (including me) would have the same criteria or circumstances or would make the same choice.
Unfortunately there is no âbetter choiceâ for someone with fibromyalgia because they arenât a homogenous group of people with the same needs and preferences so a topper that would work best for one person with fibromyalgia may not work nearly as well at all for someone else with fibromyalgia or on top of a different mattress.
In very general terms ⌠softer and more pressure relieving materials that provide a more ârelaxedâ sleeping surface will tend to work better than firmer materials because for most people with fibromyalgia a softer more pressure relieving sleeping surface is a more important priority.
Materials such as wool or other types of natural or synthetic fibers or fiberbeds, shredded latex, very soft latex, or softer memory foam are all materials that have worked well for some people with fibromyalgia but no specific material will work well for all people with fibromyalgia (and once again the specifics of the mattress under the topper will also make a significant difference in which topper will work best for you). When you have more complex medical conditions such as fibromyalgia that can be cyclical I would also keep in mind that there may be no âperfect choiceâ when it comes to a mattress.topper combination and a topper that works well for you some of the time may not work as well at other times or all of the time (this is true for everyone to some extent but would be a bigger issue for those that are more sensitive because of specific health challenges) so the most realistic goal is making the âbest possibleâ choice that works âmost of the timeâ rather than a âperfectâ choice that works all of the time.
A forum search on fibromyalgia (you can just click the link) will also bring up more comments and feedback from others that are in similar circumstances that may be helpful (but it will also confirm that there isnât a single âbestâ combination of materials that will work for everyone with fibromyalgia).
This would depend on the specifics of the wool topper and how thick and firm it was relative to your latex topper (your latex topper may be in a softer range if the density information was listed incorrectly) and it can also depend on the person because different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well. A mattress or topper that feels firm for one person can feel like âmediumâ for someone else or even âsoftâ for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they ârateâ a mattress or a topper as well (see post #15 here) so different people can have very different opinions on how two sleeping systems (mattress/topper combinations) compare in terms of firmness and some people may rate one as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.
When you canât test a topper in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help âtalk you throughâ the specifics of their toppers and their properties, firmness, and "feel"and the options they have available that may be the best âmatchâ for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses or toppers you have slept on and liked or other toppers you are considering that they are familiar with, and the âaveragesâ of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about âmatchingâ their specific toppers to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other toppers or materials that they are familiar with) than anyone else.
Once again though ⌠I would always keep in mind that even the best of other peopleâs suggestions will always be based on their âbest effortsâ and on what their experience indicates has worked well based on the âaveragesâ of other people that are in similar circumstances but the âaveragesâ of other people may not always apply to you.
I wish there was a way to predict how well a specific combination of materials would work for any specific person or set of circumstances or that there was some algorithm that could predict this but unfortunately nobody has a crystal ball that can predict which specific combination of materials you will like best or that you will sleep best on with any certainty based on specs or âtheory at a distanceâ and I would be very skeptical of anyone who claims that they do. It just doesnât exist.
Phoenix