Hello everyone! I am in a serious conundrum. For well over a year and a half I have suffered through pain every single night. I know I knowwwwww it is a little bit nuts to allow yourself that but as time has gone on I have become more confused about what to do. From bottom to top I have a 3" dunlop firm/ 3" dunlop medium/ 2" talalay soft. I am 5’5" and 165 pounds. I am a back sleeper who sometimes likes to turn on my side for comfort. I mostly sleep on my back due to a long-standing series of back injuries and a very physical job and it is what my PT has told me to do. With all the copays I am gonna trust the woman. Anyway! Every night I have godawful hip pain and buttock pain. Seemingly depending on my position, I then either get lower back pain and/or middle back pain. I wake up with terrible hip pain and usually a significant amount of stiffness. But whew doggy that hip pain is no joke. Then other times there is not the same hip pain but a different type. More of the side of the hips and mid back pain. Thankfully I have to wake up and start moving at my job which helps the stiffness. But on the weekend it will last for hours and forces me to stretch to stand up straight.
I have tried putting the firm overtop of the medium. I have tried sleeping with no talalay. I have tried any combo you can think of. Without the talalay was torture. I tried it for nights and the stiffness/pain went from my hips down my entire legs and even into my feet. At this point I have added a 1 1/2 " memory foam topper hoping it would help. It doesn’t but I admit I am a sucker for the feel of memory foam. Anyway I believe in latex and the magic it can do for my body. I do not find the talalay uncomfortable and am capable of falling asleep on it. After an hour or so I am up fitful all night long.
Pleaseeeeee give me some advice. Is it too soft or too hard? Do I need a soft dunlop or a harder talalay? A taller soft talalay or no talalay at all? This pain and lack of sleep has finally caught up to me and I am suffering from it. Not to mention the pain! What does the pain in those areas mean? From all my research it seems I am sort of in the middle of too hard or too soft. I have been directed to get a 2" soft dunlop. I have been directed to get a 3" soft talalay. I have been directed to get a 3" firm talalay. Ugh! This feels impossible and notgonnalie we all know this is expensive.
ANYTHING ANYONE can offer me is muchly appreciated!!! Thank you!!!
2" talalay: 19-22 ILD
both the dunlop are SOL and notgonnalie I am confused about their different rating system
I’m just starting to piece together a new mattress so please take what I say with a grain of salt. The SOL dunlop is 34 ILD for the medium and 46 ILD for the firm. Trying different firmnesses and thicknesses could do the trick but you’ll never know for sure until you try. Until then its just a guessing game. You can try thicker memory foam too like a 3-4" ViscoSoft Gel, 3-4" 4lb ViscoPLUSH, 3-4" 5lb ViscoMAX, etc. Just a few examples.
Is this an all foam mattress? If so, have you considered getting a pocket coil?
Thank you for your response! It is all latex foam, a mix of the two. When I built the bed I was leaning into an all latex mattress and had not in any way considered pocket coils. I admit I did not in any way consider it an option and know nothing about it. What makes you suggest the pocket coil layer? I really love the memory foam feel but know it is an eventual trap I am setting for myself by continually going that route. My PT says it’s bad for my back despite the initial allure of its magic, haha.
I’m suggesting a pocket coil because a DIY hybrid is the road I’m going down. My brother has an all-foam that’s like a medium-firm and I don’t like how flat I lay on it and how it feels other than the top 2" or so. I like the bounce of an innerspring and also a slight hammock effect. Just something to consider if you’re not getting the alignment or contouring you want out of your current base. I don’t know if I would like sleeping directly on memory foam due to heat issues but I may put some underneath the top comfort layer.
Something like this from bottom to top:
1" Lux-HQ poly foam 2.8lb ILD 50
6" pocket coil
1" dunlop latex ILD 29 (maybe 2"?)
2" 5lb memory foam
2" talalay latex ILD 19-22
12" 100% cotton knit cover for more stretch than quilt for side sleeping
Just throwing out some thoughts. I haven’t tried any of this yet.
I have been building latex props and costumes for well over a year and a half now, and I am still having trouble with my builds! I have done some extensive market research and I have done a bunch of trial and error builds to try and figure out why my latex builds are not turning out as well as I would like them to.
I am using Smooth-On OOMOO 25 and I am using a 2:1 mix ratio. I am mixing it for two minutes with a drill mixer attachment and I am pouring it into a mold that I have made out of Smooth-On Rebound 25. I am using a release agent on both the mold and the latex piece itself. I am cure the piece for 24 hours at 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
The main issue I am having is that my latex pieces are not curing properly. The surface of the latex piece will be cured, but the inside will still be gummy. I have tried various cure times and temperatures, but nothing seems to be working. I have also tried different brands of latex, but I have had the same issue with all of them.
I am at a loss as to what to do at this point. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.