New Tempur-Flex mattress making me miserable

[phoenix]

Hi Lackofzzz,

I actually did a ton of reading before I went mattress shopping (~2 weeks), and spent a month looking at mattresses every weekend. It’s hard though, once you step through the store doors and the salesperson gets their claws in you. I found most had very strong opinions on the right mattress for me and sucked up so much time talking that it was hard to visit more than 2-3 stores in an afternoon. (I did not enjoy the shopping experience at all.)

This type of salesperson is usually an indication that you are in a store that is more interested in “selling” you whatever they can convince you to buy than “educating” you and helping to “guide” you about which of the mattresses they carry would be the best match for you.

That being said, I never really found any other mattress that felt good when sleeping on my side, on my back, and spooning with a partner. The firmer ones hurt my shoulder, the softer ones hurt my lower back. And the one that felt the best one day, would feel too hard/ soft the next. So, I was willing to pay the higher price for the Tempur-Flex, since it was the best in store.

There are some testing guidelines in the tutorial post that can help you test a mattress for PPP which can improve your chances of making the most suitable choice but if you are facing more challenging circumstances and you are uncertain about whether a mattress that seems to work well in a showroom would work as well when you sleep on it then the options you have after a purchase would become a more important part of the “value” of your purchase.

There is more about the different ways to choose a mattress (either locally or online) that is the most suitable “match” for each person’s specific needs and preferences and how to identify and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for that are involved in each of them in post #2 here.

I’m not as sure as you are that the Tempur-Flex would have been the “best” mattress in the store but it would depend on how you are defining “best”. I would normally avoid Tempurpedic along with all the other major brands (see the guidelines here).

BTW, does all the pain in my shoulders and neck mean the new bed is too hard or too soft?

There is more about the more common symptoms that people may experience on a mattress and some of the most likely reasons for them in post #2 here and the posts it links to and there is also more about shoulder pain and discomfort specifically in posts #2 and #3 here but the most likely reasons for shoulder or neck pain are a pillow issue or a mattress that is too firm.

I read a lot of reviews on Amazon, because I wanted to purchase a mattress protector that would not effect the heat transfer properties of memory foam. I’ve tried both the waterproof ultra-thin terry surface and the Perlux tencel mattress protectors. (They seemed about the same to me.) I need waterproof because I sleep with water on my nightstand, and to be completely honest, I am a klutz and have knocked it over or spilled more than I’d like to admit in the dark. I sleep with 100% cotton sheets, and lately no comforter. My comforter is a regular fiberfill. It is okay for me alone (I am not a warm person), but it’s pretty miserable with two people.

These (and many others that are similar) are both the “thin membrane” type of protectors and they would all be fairly similar. They are among the most popular protectors for memory foam mattresses and for most people they work well because they have less effect on the feel and response of the memory foam but for some people they can also have a bigger effect on sleeping temperature than they are comfortable with.

I appreciate all of the information. I live in DC and have a car, so can travel to the surrounding MD & VA metro area.

The better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the general Washington, DC area (subject to the quality/value guidelines I linked in my previous reply) are listed in post #2 here.

Phoenix