After several years (over 4), plus many months, reading, researching, and rereading, so may sites up to, and including all of the pages on your website, btw (most insightful information ever). I am desperate to get a bed that I can have just one night of, I'd settle for even a couple hours of halfway decent sleep!!
What you are about to read is not only truthful but sad really..
I am female 39 years old, I am 5'0", (I lost 2 1/2 inches in a car accident in June of '96). The car accident left me with severe spinal and nerve damage. My weight fluctuates between 100 and 130lbs often. I'm about 120lbs now. I have arthritis throughout my body and I believe I have undiagnosed fibromyalgia, (can't afford to go to the Dr.s for the tests). I have which specialists say doesn't exist Chronic Insomnia for years. I've literally gone over a week, yes, 7 days without sleep. Fun stuff.. My career has been in the Restaurant Service industry for over twenty years. At this time I am a part time Banquet server which entails me to stand on my feet for up to 14+ hours a day as well as carry trays up to 100lbs, and distances up to 50yds. Crazy I know..
I have been sleeping on a Futon mattress since I was a teenager. For too many years, I have been sleeping on a worn out Futon that should have been replaced years ago. I've never slept one night without waking up in pain to the point of literally not being able to move or even getting out of bed without the help of my sons' father. It has become so insanely ridiculous that I've been sleeping sitting up for over a year, as well as passing out from lack of sleep standing up, and passing out in my car, just to literally get some sleep.
Like I said for years, I have been researching about beds, and what kind I would be able to sleep on that would give me just one night of pure sleep that I would be able to hit a R.E.M cycle on. I have slept on a couple beds, in the past few years that have been comfortable to me, but I do not know what kind they specifically were. I do know that two of them which were the most comfortable were made out of memory foam, one of them was a Sealy Posturepedic of some kind. Both were king size mattresses and both were on the firm side. I still woke up in pain but it was tolerable, and probably the best couple nights of sleep I had in all these years.
I am desperate to buy a bed, and I am so overwhelmed by the information that I've read. I swear I could become a mattress expert myself. I reside outside of Detroit Mi. and have several mattress factories, retailers, etc., to choose from. I have gone to the store Art Van Furniture, most well known store in this state, and supposedly a "mattress expert" retailer, which is by far from the truth. I have tried several beds up to and including the new Tempur-Pedic lines. None of which I could say were worth the money let alone not comfortable enough for me to purchase.
I will reinstate that I have read several times your advice about buying a bed and what to look for when it comes to the 3 P's. I cannot find a bed that compares to the couple I spoke about above or be able to choose what type of mattress would work best for me, e.g. Memory foam, Latex, another futon etc.. I know that you do not choose "the best mattress" for people, and only advise them with your expertise. I am beyond ready to buy a bed, and I am begging you for your help in this most discouraging matter.
I do know that for myself, I like a firmer feel on a mattress, I definitely need good support, I like to sleep "on top of" rather than "sink into" a mattress. Although I liked the Memory foam conforming feel and support of the mattresses, again I spoke about above. Please help me with and advise me which way to go. I am so desperately in need of just one night of good sleep!!
I’m sorry to hear about all the challenges you are (and have been) facing and I can certainly understand why a good mattress would be even more important to you than it would for most people. Of course it won’t resolve the many health issues you are facing but it would certainly be one step in the right direction.
You may have read it already but I would make sure you follow the steps in the mattress shopping tutorial one by one which can help you from getting overwhelmed with information (it has all the most important information all in one place) and will also help you to avoid stores like Art Van and the major brands they carry.
Once you are at step 3 then the better options and possibilities I’m aware of in the Greater Detroit Area are listed in post #2 here.
Unfortunately (as you hopefully know from the tutorial post) there are too many unknowns, variables, and individual preferences (and in your case health issues) involved for anyone to be able to recommend a specific mattress using specs (either yours or a mattress), health conditions, or “theory at a distance” (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here). Only you can feel what you feel on a mattress and the part of your research that involves testing and/or assessing a mattress for PPP is something that only you can do. It would be great to be able to just plug in information into a computer program and then have it tell you which mattress to buy but unfortunately this doesn’t exist so all someone else can do is help with “how” to choose and the steps to follow that have the highest chance of success … not with “what” to choose for any particular person or individual circumstances.
One of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase can be the knowledge and expertise of the retailer or manufacturer you are dealing with and “finding the experts” that already know what you would otherwise need to learn can be one of the most important parts of a successful mattress purchase.
Firmness and softness is very subjective and what one person calls “too firm” (in either the comfort or support layers) can be “too soft” for someone else even if they appear to be similar in body type, sleeping positions, or circumstances. The type of materials you prefer (either in the comfort layers or support layers) are also an individual preference and here again (just like with food choices) only you can know which type of materials you tend to prefer. If you prefer to sleep “on” a mattress rather than “in” a mattress then it would make sense to look for more resilient materials in your comfort layers (such as latex or polyfoam) rather than memory foam which is a slow response material that has a more “in the mattress” feel (see post #2 here about memory foam vs latex).
The most important parts of your research are to make sure you have some basic information about mattresses and materials (which it appears you have), know what to look for and what to avoid, choose the retailers and manufacturers you deal with carefully so that you are working with more knowledgeable and experienced people, use the testing guidelines in the tutorial and the information about the quality of the materials in a mattress (see post #4 here) to narrow down your choices to one at each store (or online retailer/manufacturer) you are dealing with, and then once you are down to finalists that are choices between “good and good” to make your final choice between them based on the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.
My apologies for the delayed response. Thank you for the reply, the information and links you sent me. I wasn't aware of the few links, and I am most grateful for the insightful response you gave me. I looked at the several choices of beds and stores, surrounding me I wasn't aware of. I again reread your links about the materials and what would be best for my situation, and I have discovered a website that I am interested in purchasing a bed from.
The site is plushbeds.com and if you have a moment of time I would love for you to take a look at the site to maybe help me in my decision of which mattress to choose from. I have narrowed it down to a few beds to choose from on this site. The 12" Posture Plush Memory Foam mattress, their 10" Natural Bliss collection, or their 10" or 12" Eco Bliss collection. I’ve read the sites information about the materials they make their beds out of, I am a stuck on the decision I have to make about the two different choices they have to offer.
I’m going to purchase a mattress,within the next few days.I would love if you could give me your expert advice, and opinions between the two. It would be helpful to me to make my decision about which one to purchase.
I want to thank you again for your timely response you gave me and the links you showed me that I never seen before. Hopefully you will be able to look at the site, and be able to help me make my final decision, between the few options I’m looking at.
Plushbeds uses good quality materials in their mattresses and are also transparent about what they use in each mattress and I would consider them to be a “better than average” choice compared to most mainstream manufacturers. A forum search on Plushbeds (you can just click the link) will bring up many more comments and feedback about them.
When you can’t test a mattress in person then the best source of guidance about which mattress may be best for you would be a more detailed conversation with the manufacturer who will know more about “matching” their mattresses to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences than anyone else (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
The first thing I would suggest to narrow down your choices is to decide whether you prefer sleeping on latex or on memory foam. Post #2 here has more information about how they compare but your own personal testing and experience is really the best way to know which one you tend to prefer.
The next thing I would suggest it to narrow your choices at Plushbeds to one finalist and then once you have also decided on your other finalists that you are considering at other manufacturers and are choosing between “good and good” then it’s time to make a final choice between them (see post #2 here about final choices). The tutorial post includes two links to lists of some of the better online memory foam and latex retailers and manufacturers I’m aware of.