White flag raised - my unconditional surrender

[phoenix]

Hi LackOSleep,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum!

I very nearly lost my life this past summer due to: an unholy maelstrom of:

1. A freakish reaction to a prescribed steroid
2. Undiagnosed sleep apnea of such intensity that it’s utterly lethal - hello, BIPAP therapy!
3. Family genetics
   The above conditions culminated in a 15-day stay at a delightful cardiac specialty hospital - the first six of which I lost an incomprehensible 125 pounds in the first 6 days.

Oh my goodness, :ohmy: you must have been retaining an incredible amount of fluids. I’m so happy that you are doing better and on the mend. :cheer:

I’ve been forced to abandon stomach sleeping and I’m slowly in the process of transitioning to a back sleeper.

This is good, as stomach sleeping is in general the worst for maintaining alignment. Sleeping on your back will have the lowest intervertebral disc pressure (25% of standing). The next best is side sleeping (75% as compared to standing).

As a result, I now require an adjustable bed frame with a “zero gravity” setting, which seriously limits my choices, so I’m stuck with either latex or memory foam with a thickness no more than 11" or less - an entirely new world if you’re used to sleeping on a cruddy off-brand innerspring.

Zero-Gravity is just an everyday term for semi-Flowler’s position which is simply elevating your feet a bit and elevating your torso a bit. Bending the knees at 135 degrees and the torso at 45 degrees is said to approximate the unloaded posture experienced by astronauts. Any adjustable bed base with separate motors for the head and foot section will be able to do this for you.

If you need to stay around 11" (I’m guessing for ease of access), you certainly can stay in that range with many variations of memory foam or latex mattresses. Latex will certainly be the type of foam that will best put up with the specific demands placed upon it by using in an adjustable bed environment.

Thanks to the wonderful caliber of posts here, I now understand what to shop for in a mattress.

Thank you. I’m glad that the information presented here has bene useful to you.

Unfortunately, I also live in a area that’s fairly remote in terms of local companies and filled with “Mattress Firm” type stores.

If you can provide your zip code I can see if I have a listing of retailers that might be better choices in your area.

LOVE the idea of saving money and getting a better product, but I’m quite discouraged after reading some of the feedback on these forums.

You certainly can find varying levels of satisfaction on different forums, but the overall feedback I’ve received from members dealing with knowledgeable retailers and manufacturers has been overwhelmingly positive. Of course, that is providing these people have done their research like you seem to have done (like starting with the Mattress Shopping Tutorial), and are dealing with knowledgeable manufacturers (like those listed in post #21 here).

Even good return policies seem to be incredible hassles from some experiences,

Again, you can always find “experiences” that are extreme, or people whose definition of a hassle is quite different from yours or mine. Most manufacturers make it as convenient as they can if you have to return a product. The most work you’ll generally have to perform might be using a vacuum cleaner to shrink a foam layer should you have to exchange it. There are very complete videos available showing how to perform this should it be necessary if a purchase doesn’t turn out as you expected. However, it may be easier for you in your particular situation to stay with a local retailer where they can take care of everything for you, and that’s an important part of your personal PPP. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that.

nobody seems to actually have a product that is as described - probably just the nature of how subjective “comfort” is

You are correct, comfort is truly subjective and there is no one ultimate “comfort scale” that can accurately relate a relative comfort to applies equally to everyone. The first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, or PPP or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress), sleeping positions, health conditions, or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more reliable than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

Post #2 here and this topic have more about the pros and cons of a local vs an online purchase.

For example, I’ve been in contact with one well-regarded manufacture and I’m still reeling that they described latex as “feeling like an innerspring” - I certainly don’t want that,but I also don’t want memory foam mattresses that use great materials but still ultimately feel like quilted bricks

More than likely they were trying to describe the buoyant feel that is commonly attributed to an all latex mattress, particularly Talalay latex. Many people have the misconception that latex feels the same as memory foam, as they are both “foams”. It certainly can be difficult to ascertain how a product feels via a phone conversation, especially if you’ve never tried such a product or have a frame of reference for comparison.

I just can’t endure back and forth gambles at this point and constant hassles mailing mattresses back and forth

If it’s your personal position that having to potentially return a product is currently too inconvenient for you, then you would be left with dealing with more local retailers. If you can reply back with your zip code, I’ll see if I can come up with some options that you haven’t tried yet.

Phoenix