Pressure point problem with Tempur-Pedic

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Hi all… a bit of background on me: I’m 39 have had spinal fusion at L4 & L5 from a car accident and have chronic pain from the fusions. I bought 2 Tempur-Pedic Rhapsody Twin XL and 2 non-TempurPedic adjustable bases (to form 1 Cal King) in March of 2014.

Prior to the TP, I had a cheap memory foam mattress from Ikea that was ok. Nothing special, but once it started sagging the back pain got to be more troublesome. My research led me to TP.

I scrimped and saved for several years for the TP beds because of my chronic back pain, and many know the expense I went to for them. I initially loved this mattress and my spouse is very happy with the TP , findin it quite comfortable. She sleeps like a baby.

Unfortunately over the summer, of course after the “trial period” ran out, I started having severe pressure point pain on my hips, which I have never, ever experienced before. Now, it has gotten to the point that I don’t sleep more than about 45 minutes at a time because the pain wakes me up to turn over. It doesn’t appear to be bursa pain. Doc says it seems to high on the hip for that, so all it can be is compression of the Rhapsody at the hip.

I can’t sleep on my back or my stomach because of the back surgeries, and now I can’t sleep on my sides because of the severe hip pain/numbness/tingling. I’m not getting good, restful sleep and it is now affecting my waking hours. I’m irritable, less tolerant of my back pain and suffer from all around malaise due to the exhaustion.

I can’t get another mattress until tax returns come in sometime in February or March 2015. I can, however afford a mattress topper, but I don’t know if that would even help. So, I guess I’m looking for options/suggestions. I can’t handle not sleeping anymore…

I’m trying to work with TP Customer Service but am looking for other options if they are unwilling/unable to help. I just need something to get me through until I can get a new mattress or sell these. They are like new, just a very poor choice for me :frowning:

Thank you for any assistance you can provide!

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Hi JaxieJ,

Your symptoms “sound like” they are connected to excess pressure in the hip area in which case a topper could certainly help but it’s not really possible to know for certain with more complex health issues because there could also be other causes connected to your injury that could lead to hip pain as well. The only way to know for certain whether a topper would be an improvement would be based on your actual sleeping experience.

There are some suggestions in post #2 here that may be helpful before you try a topper … especially looking at your mattress protector or any mattress pad that you are using to see if it is affecting the amount of heat that is reaching the memory foam which can interfere with it’s ability to soften with temperature, to make sure that you are using a solid foundation that isn’t sagging, and to make sure that the temperature in your room isn’t so cold that it keeps the memory foam firmer. I would also try and sleep with a pillow between your knees which can help keep your hips in better alignment just in case what you are experiencing is connected to alignment issues rather than pressure issues.

If none of these seem to help your symptoms I think a topper would be well worth trying and post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to can help you use your actual sleeping experience as a reference point for choosing a topper that would have a reasonable chance of success.

Since you appear to prefer memory foam I would probably stick with it as a topper material and something in the 2" range or less would probably have a lower risk of being too thick and soft which could increase the risk of alignment issues that can come from adding a topper that is too thick.

Phoenix