My wife and I have been sleeping on a King Coil Orchid latex mattress for the past three years.  This is our first latex mattress, and it has been the most comfortable mattress upon which either of us has ever slept.  Unfortuately, a ridge has developed in the middle that runs the length of the mattress.  This is making it impossible for us to sleep touching each other without one of us waking with back or side pain.  I do not know what is causing the ridge, and I cannot attempt to lift the mattress to examine it further because I have just been discharged from the hospital with an internal carotid artery dissection and cannot do any heavy lifting.  The mattress sits upon a split box-spring mattress (2 peices placed together side-by-side) on a standard king size bed frame.  I guess I will have to buy a new mattress, but I wondered:

a) Does anyone have any idea what may be causing this ridge; is this normal for a latex mattress?

b) Should I expect more than three years comfort from a latex mattress?

c) Are Flobeds and SleepEZ the best choices?

This could be caused by a number of different things.

1.  All king size beds are prone to a ridge forming in the middle due to lack of being used here.

2. Almost all latex beds will have to use some kind of quilted material on top of the latex core itself, whether it be wool or cotton, FR polyester fibre, quilted polyurethane foam, etc.  All of these materials will show some compression with use, polyurethane and polyester fibre in particular will degrade substantially. 

3.  It could be moisture related damage.  Wool is usually used in higher end latex beds as it keeps humidity away from the rubber cores.  Latex foam is susceptible to the salts in our perspiration grinding down the foam over time.  If this is the issue than where either of you sleep most of the time then the core of the mattress might feel significantly softer.  If the support is still there, then it is likely a fibre or cheaper foam of some kind that is doing some compressing.