I recently bought a Stearns & Foster Estate Eureka Springs luxury firm full mattress from Mattress Discounters and I think I may have made a mistake.  Even though I came across this forum about a month ago, I still took a chance with an "S" brand.  My back was in pain from the hammocking of the old mattress and I bought it due to desperation.  For the first few days my back hurt but it gradually went away.  The mattress salesman said that my back may hurt for the first week or so because my back muscles were returning back to their normal state after being stretched out due to my previous mattress.  It has been 2 weeks now and my back pain has returned!  In fact, it hurt so much this morning I had to get up early since I couldn't take it anymore.  My girlfriend, whom I share the mattress with, says her back pain has disappeared and has no complaints.  Now I am asking myself the following questions:

-Should I just wait it out for a few more weeks to see if my back pain goes away?
-Is the size of the bed contributing to my back pain? (Should I go for a larger size?)---> It is a full size mattress.  I am 5'8", 150lbs.  My girlfriend is 5'4", 100lbs. 
-Is the setup of the bed to blame?--->The mattress rests on a murphy bed platform.
-Should I replace the foam inside?
-New bed?--->Latex, maybe?
-Topper?

The comfort guarantee allows me to exchange the bed within 60 days.  I prefer not to go that route since they will charge me for delivery and 10% of total costs and I could save that money toward other bed improvements.  I am thinking about mattress surgery to replace the foam inside for more premium stuff but I'm not sure how to do that and am concerned with closing it up.  I know a lot of people on this forum recommend latex beds, but that will have to be my second to last resort since it is not in my current budget due to the money already spent on the present mattress, but I may buy one down the road so I'm open to suggestions on that as well.  That's all the gripes/concerns I can currently think of so please provide any suggestions you can.  Thanks in advance!

See my thread about "another defective Simmons" and it will give the drama of our mattress affairs. we refused to buy another Simmons from the store so ended up on a firm Serta with added latex we already owned. We did not realize the coil system was what my husband needed until a very recent trip to the dr. We had already received the Serta and noticed he was helped right away. My husband has structural issues and is in pain all the time. He is also a UPS driver, so his back and neck take a beating. The pain you seem to have appears to stem from your bed, due to the fact that it goes away and returns dependent on the mattress. Of course, I am not an MD, so that is only a guess.  I hope you find what you need. This forum is the place to be and there is much help.

Pleasant Dreams

Hey, Jim;
My mattress surgery was on a pocketed coil mattress.  That mattress was opened so many times I'm surprised it didn't learn how to say "aahhh"!  Originally that bed had two about 3" chunks of very very soft cheap foam, which hurt my back from day 1.  Had it remade, and due to faulty communications, bed was made HARD.  Then remade, with layers of different softer foam and it was much improved.  Took it back to have it just tweaked a liiiitttttllllleeee....but overkill once again and it hurt.  I was wanting them to zone it so my heavy spot got a slightly more dense piece of foam, shoulders softer, etc.  It's hard to be ahead of your time, LOL.  Anyway, I took it apart next time and did replace some foam, messed with it for awhile, but never did like the feel of the pocket coils.  Mine were not coil in coil, just plain ol' pocket coils, FWIW.  I like offset coils, and am happy with my one year old bed, even tho I am not partial to the p/u foam in it and will have it replaced.  It took almost a year, but now there is a bit of a butt-dent.  I use a nice polyfill topper on it and it is pretty close to heaven.
Kait

Dear fubu;
If your back hurts when you go to bed and it eases out of pain after you've been up an hour or so, your bed is too soft.  Your low back is not in alignment when you are sleeping(in my case my heavy part was sinking too much) and it strains the low back muscles.  In my case it felt like they were trying to pull my butt back up where it belonged all night, and were of course unsuccessful.  It took ONE night on a good bed with good foam and no dent to start me back to the road to recovery.  After night two I was healed.  This after YEARS of beds hurting my back.  So, there is a way to fix this.
Chances are, the foam is just too soft for you in the lower body area.  You have to figure out how to cushion your body so you sleep comfortably and in alignment.
Some stretches aren't a bad idea.  One is to stand, feet sligthly apart, and twist your body from side to side, arms up and bent.  That loosens your back a bit.  Another to stretch your low back is to sit cross legged on the floor, then take one foot and cross it over the opposite thigh.  Then wrap your arm that is on the same side as the foot that crossed over and pull the knee area gently toward you so that you feel a stretch in the buttock area and possibly low back.  Nice stretch.
Kait

Kait wrote:
Hi Kait, I was thinking someone here had done surgery on pocket coils but I didn't have time to go back and look to see.
Your story here makes me realize that what I was saying (in my Prince and the Pea post) is true,  about how little tiny changes CAN make a difference. My wife usually helps me with my changing out layers and such just because it's a lot easier with 2 than one person. But sometimes she goes "Oh no! AGAIN?!" and so I sometimes just quietly do it by myself. When I had pure foam and no springs, it was the worst. I was tweaking the mattress almost EVERY night. Now I have only done it here and there, to try to get a bit better feel.

fubu04 wrote:
fubu, a single layer of 3" latex MIGHT work. The problem with that is that if it doesn't work, you're screwed and now you own a 3" latex piece - not cheap! - that you will not be able to utilize if it doesn't work.

Better to buy 3 x 1" layers of various ILD's - say, an 18ILD, a 28ILD and a 32ILD - and then you have many various options for adjusting it to make it work. You can put the 18ILD on the bottom or the middle or the top, for instance, and the same with the other 3 pieces. I'm not a mathematician but I know that gives you quite a few different ways to make your bed.

Or even if you buy 2 x 28ILD or two 32ILD and one 18 ILD - that too gives you lots of options. Ideally, if money were not too tight, I'd say buy an 18, a 24, a 28 and a 32 of one inch thickness and use 3 of those to tweak your mattress.

Did you give your height and weight? If you will give them in your next post, I will try to GUESS what latex layers to buy (though maybe a foam guy where you buy the latex could guess better). But I'll give you my 2cents if you want it. Also, I really do NOT have that much experience with latex. My experience is that I owned a flobed with interchangeable layers for a couple months or so, and that I have layed on various latex mattresses when doing mattress buying, and I own two layers of 3/4" latex that I use but I'm not even sure what ILD they are. So I'm not a latex expert, but I do have a good idea of ILD's in terms of HR foam, and I think it translates pretty well to latex. A latex person here may be able to give you a better idea than me, as to which layers to buy. But I am a big believer in layers, as layers give you more options.

jimsocal wrote:
I'm 5' 8", 150 lbs. Thanks for all the info so far! I have learned so much since I discovered this forum thanks to forum members such as yourself and others.

Then - if I were to guess - I'd say that medium firm will be about right for you if you are a side sleeper.
So I'd probably go with an average of around 28ILD, so maybe one layer of 18ILD for a soft top (remember, these are just one inch layers), 28ILD for the middle and 32ILD for the bottom. If you can afford to buy one more, buy a a 24ild too. Not sure you'll even be able to find these ild's in 1" but use your judgment, get what you can. Like I say, maybe two x 28ild and one 18ild might work, or one 32ild and two 28ild. I'd guess you want to shoot for around 28ILD but maybe someone who knows more about latex can help you choose.

Maybe you should start a new thread: "What ILD's of latex should I buy?" Say that you want to buy 3 or 4 layers - whatever you have decided - or two or whatever - and ask opinions based on your height and weight. Because not everyone who can give you an opinion may be reading THIS thread... Oh, and I am assuming Talalay latex, not Dunlop. If Dunlop, you want to go a big lower on the ILD's. Or you could try a Dunlop base of 28-32 and then Talalay toppers of 28 and 18... Again, I could be wrong, these are my guesses. I hope someone with more latex expertise can help you.

And it wouldn't hurt at all to call someone like foambymail and tell them what you are doing - putting x number of 1" layers over springs - and ask for their expert recommendations. I've never dealt with FMB myself, but I think they - and others who sell latex - are pretty good at helping. Even if you aren't sure you're buying from them, you can ask their opinions. That gives them a chance to sell you on their service and products, so no harm if you don't buy from them.

jimsocal wrote:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll go start that new thread.

I like what Jim says about the latex and layering.  Latex is a different puppy, you like it or might not like the feel.  Jim, didn't you do a layering with latex and memory foam on your springs?  The feels are different and could balance each other out, I think.  You might not even need 3" of latex, hard to say.
I would say that the bed has too soft of foam for your back presently, which will not get better with time.  If your girlfriend doesn't have a problem with her side, you could possibly just futz with yours(that's what I did).  Cheaper that way.
If you do need to cut foam try an electric knife.  Cheap investment.  Mark first and then go. 
Good luck!
Kait

Kait is right, an electric carving knife  is great. I got one at Target for about $10.It cuts ALL kinds of foam very easily and efficiently. I even used it on a 6"  piece of Omalon and though it was slow it got through it okay!

I am using a 3/4" soft latex on top over a 1" layer of Venus (I actually recommend Sensus instead because it's cheaper but I made the mistake of buying my Sensus in a 2" layer and 2" is too thick for me, so I use the Venus.) Some day I'd like to try a layer of Dunlop to replace the HR and a couple different ILD's of latex to replace the Venus maybe, but right now the above is working pretty well.