Hi Basil-
I am primarily a side sleeper, although start out the night on my back. I’d say I’m at least a 75% side sleeper, predominately on left side because my right side has a neck/shoulder issue (2 disk bulges and a nerve impingement). for me though, I can stay on the Tuft and Needle longer on my back than any other mattress I’ve been on (without a pillow under my knees, this is the first mattress in years I’ve been able to do this), and on my right side without getting neck pain, although start to feel discomfort after about an hour (on most other mattresses, I can only tolerate about 15 minutes on right side).
Have you tried switching pillows? I was having upper thoracic/ scapular pain in the beginning on the Tuft and Needle, and asked this very question to Phoenix: (page 16 in Tuft and Needle Diary):
- Do you have any ideas why I got the scapular/thoracic pain last night? I’m still achey 5 hours later, despite rolling on my foam roller and hot bath. Is there anything I can change in the mattress/pillow or the way I sleep to help?
Phoenix gave me a link to likely causes of various back pains on a mattress:
https://forum.mattressunderground.com/t/futons-looking-at-otis
For my case, it turned out to be a pillow issue when sleeping on my side. I switched pillows, and paid attention to my sleep position, trying to keep everything aligned, and for me, the pain went away after a week.
On my back, on the same pillow, or any pillow, I get some upper back discomfort, so I did something I’ve done in hotels on mattresses that aren’t ideal (those that I am forced to sleep on my back because of too much pressure point pain in shoulders on side):
On my back, I take a small hand towel and roll it up to the exact size needed to support my neck. This is so comfortable to me, and something suggested to me by my acupuncturist several years ago, and much more comfortable than any pillow I’ve tried while on my back. I think this works best for me on firm mattresses.
Hopefully you can figure something out. Maybe the mattress isn’t the best for your “PPP”.
Phoenix usually says not to make any major changes for the first few weeks, to let your body adjust and the mattress materials break in, but I don’t know what the suggestion is if you can’t sleep due to pain!
by the way, do you have a mattress protector on the mattress? That can change the feel of the foam too (make it firmer).
Best of luck.