My back hurts. I need advice.
Apr 13, 2009 1:52 AM
Joined: Apr 13, 2009
Points: 10
Hi everyone, I'm new here.  I think I need a new mattress.  I have a CA King Simmons Beautyrest (I don't know the model), but it's a pillowtop and quite soft.  I'm about 6'3" and 175 lbs, 30 years old.  The mattress is about 4 years old.  It sags in the middle.  Every morning, the middle of my back hurts for a few minutes after waking up, which is crazy because I'm in very good shape and have never had back problems before.  The pain goes away after a few minutes of getting out of bed.  This is crazy.  The mattress industry confuses the hell out of me.

But I think I need a new mattress.  I'm currently sleeping on my guest room twin bed, even though my feet hang off the edge.  That bed is fine, and it is pretty firm.  This leads me to believe maybe I need something more firm.

I'm a stomach sleeper, but in my current bed, my back hurts no matter how I sleep.  I've tried back and side also.  The problem is the sag.

My parents have an expensive Chattham & Wells CA king size.  It's better than mine but it still sags.  Is it possible to get a King size bed that doesn't sag?!  If not, I'm willing to put two extra long twins together or something.

I'm trying to learn all i can about mattresses, but like I said, it's very confusing.  I'm thankful for this forum, but even the layout here is somewhat dificult to sift through because it's all one big list of threads, there's not much organization.  But I'm trying to read through it.

Here's what I've learned so far.  Maybe latex is the way for me to go.  But also, maybe there's something about the king size bed that just lends itself to sagging and there's no way around it.  That little twin I mentioned above, that thing is like 20 years old, and it doesn't sag at all.

Please help me figure out what I need to do.  I love the luxury of having a large bed, but the pain is unbearable.  I haven't slept well for months in my house.  Thanks.
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #4 May 28, 2009 12:55 PM
Joined: May 28, 2009
Points: 6
A Hastens bed will not sag, at least not for 25 years. I have been sleep ing on one for 2years and my daughter for 1 year,

my grand parents have been on a Hastens for 15 years, and still in perfect shape. they are not a cheep bed to buy but you will be very happy every night and every morning.

there is a store in Toronto where are you?

Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #5 May 30, 2009 3:55 PM
Location: L.A. area
Joined: Jan 18, 2008
Points: 1161
I am a proponent of home-made adjustable beds.
Foam.
See my posts here and there to see the type of foam configurations I am a proponent of.
I too have back problems (and shoulders) and it is very difficult for me to find something that works.
The best thing I have found so far is overnightmattress.com's M-Grade foam. I did return mine, but I bought the 5" core with the 2" of memory foam on top and now I wish I'd bought the 7" pure M-Grade core, then put my own toppers on it. The 5" gave me the best sleep I have had in years, BUT it softened up too much after a few months. I think the 7" core would not soften up as much.

However, I am back to using HR foam that I had before, and what I like about it is that I can experiment with various softnesses/firmnesses (or ILD's) of foam.

IF "doing it yourself" is not your style, I recommend flobeds.com latex with or without memory foam toppers. The one thing I'll say about memory foam is that MOST of it is too soft and doesn't provide support, so anything more than 2-3" of even the best memory foam is too much, imho.
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #6 May 30, 2009 4:02 PM
Location: L.A. area
Joined: Jan 18, 2008
Points: 1161
imjay wrote:
My wife and I are out of whack to most as we abandoned innerspring mattresses over 22 years ago and bought a California King waterbed and mattress and we have slept happy ever since.  Over the years, as with most things, waterbed mattress design, engineering and materials have improved and continue to improve.  We bought our latest one almost four months ago - the "old" one was in perfect condition (after almost seven years) but we are older and wanted something 100% waveless and more firm.

As info, we spent four months researching ALL types, makes and models of innerspring and foam and latex just to see what was currently available and at the end of that process we agreed that a new waterbed mattress was the ONLY option - adjustable firmness, impossible to sag or develop body depressions, temperature adjustable and VERY less expensive than the alternatives.

My bride at age 54 has multipe diagnosed permanent back problems - the waterbed is her no pain and good night's sleep solution.  This time around we added a three inch Cloud9 semi-firm, 4.3 visco elastic memory foam topper and the combination with our waterbed mattress with firmness perfectly adjusted we still marvel every day at the comfort.  We are mainly side and tummy sleepers though she sometimes sleeps on her back when her back is particularly troublesome and it's all good.  We paid under $500 for both our new mattress and the topper including shipping and taxes.

Anywho, you asked and so I have shared our experience - over 22 years of consistent sleep comfort that has taken us from our 40s into (for me) our 60s all spent sleeping on a waterbed which is to us an alternative that often goes unrecognized and unaccepted.

Best of Luck with your qwest for Sleep Comfort and Pleasure!


Imjay, I would love to know exactly what type of waterbed you recently bought and like.
I used to sleep on waterbeds before I made the mistake of switching to a Simmons about 15 years ago. That Simmons was horrible. Then I bought a Sealy, also a mistake.
After those, I switched to foam and my experience has been mixed, but nothing has been as comfortable as my waterbeds were.
However, I finally got fed up because the waterbed I bought kept leaking. No, not water all over the bedroom as some would think. No, it would just spring a leak and little pools of water would appear along the side, in the "liner". But after having to drain it and repair it and refill it about 3 times, I got fed up. Before that one, my other waterbed only ever leaked once in 5 years or so.

Anyway, I may give up on all this foam stuff in the near future and try a waterbed. So if you could help me by describing the name, style, etc details of your waterbed, I would appreciate it.

I know that many waterbeds now also incorporate foam and some have very little water as compared to foam. Most now use baffling as opposed to just having a bag of water, which was my original waterbed back in 1973 when I was much younger and had no back or shoulder issues... So what is the design you have found best? Thanks for sharing.
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #7 May 30, 2009 10:08 PM
Joined: Aug 30, 2007
Points: 94
Jim-I think imjay might have been scared away by all the anti-waterbed sentiment.  He did a review on his mattress in the mattress review section here (currently the eighth most recent review) and you can check online to see a description of his mattress.  
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #8 Jun 23, 2009 5:46 PM
Joined: Sep 10, 2007
Points: 689
The only way I'll have a King size mattress is to put two XL twin mattress sets inside an Eastern King frame. Not only is there virtually no motion detection from your partner, it also makes it nice if you prefer different firmnesses. Since we have a nice topper over both sides, we don't even know it's two separate beds in one.


mybackhurts wrote:
Hi everyone, I'm new here.  I think I need a new mattress.  I have a CA King Simmons Beautyrest (I don't know the model), but it's a pillowtop and quite soft.  I'm about 6'3&quot; and 175 lbs, 30 years old.  The mattress is about 4 years old.  It sags in the middle.  Every morning, the middle of my back hurts for a few minutes after waking up, which is crazy because I'm in very good shape and have never had back problems before.  The pain goes away after a few minutes of getting out of bed.  This is crazy.  The mattress industry confuses the hell out of me.<BR><BR>But I think I need a new mattress.  I'm currently sleeping on my guest room twin bed, even though my feet hang off the edge.  That bed is fine, and it is pretty firm.  This leads me to believe maybe I need something more firm.<BR><BR>I'm a stomach sleeper, but in my current bed, my back hurts no matter how I sleep.  I've tried back and side also.  The problem is the sag.<BR><BR>My parents have an expensive Chattham &amp; Wells CA king size.  It's better than mine but it still sags.  Is it possible to get a King size bed that doesn't sag?!  If not, I'm willing to put two extra long twins together or something.<BR><BR>I'm trying to learn all i can about mattresses, but like I said, it's very confusing.  I'm thankful for this forum, but even the layout here is somewhat dificult to sift through because it's all one big list of threads, there's not much organization.  But I'm trying to read through it.<BR><BR>Here's what I've learned so far.  Maybe latex is the way for me to go.  But also, maybe there's something about the king size bed that just lends itself to sagging and there's no way around it.  That little twin I mentioned above, that thing is like 20 years old, and it doesn't sag at all.<BR><BR>Please help me figure out what I need to do.  I love the luxury of having a large bed, but the pain is unbearable.  I haven't slept well for months in my house.  Thanks.
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #9 Jul 20, 2009 7:22 PM
Joined: Apr 13, 2009
Points: 10
Someone else also suggested that I get two twins and put them together.  Are there any drawbacks to this?  it makes sense to me because there might me less sag because of the narrow widths.  Has anyone tried this and was happy?  My parents have a king also, expensive, Chattham and Wells, but I swear that one sags also (even if they don't admit it).

What would I do about the center divider line?  Could I make it so it is undetectable?  Sometimes I like to sleep diagonal.
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #10 Jul 24, 2009 5:02 PM
Joined: Nov 4, 2008
Points: 223
BeddyBye, what type of mattresses do you sleep on? I'm considering putting two twins together, because maybe (??) it would cut down on motion transfer...Do you find it comfortable enough with the attaching device? We're thinking of going with HR foam for the cores, because i think (??) it has the least motion transfer of the foams.

thanks for your reply! :)
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #11 Jul 28, 2009 1:55 AM
Joined: Sep 10, 2007
Points: 689
See my above post about our two XL twins together in an Eastern King frame. No drawbacks whatsoever. I would never go back to one large, King mattress. With a topper over both mattresses, we don't even feel the division between the two. I highly recommend it.

mybackhurts wrote:
Someone else also suggested that I get two twins and put them together.  Are there any drawbacks to this?  it makes sense to me because there might me less sag because of the narrow widths.  Has anyone tried this and was happy?  My parents have a king also, expensive, Chattham and Wells, but I swear that one sags also (even if they don't admit it).<BR><BR>What would I do about the center divider line?  Could I make it so it is undetectable?  Sometimes I like to sleep diagonal.
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #12 Jul 28, 2009 2:04 AM
Joined: Sep 10, 2007
Points: 689
We sleep on two XL twins from here: http://www.baybed.com/ A local company that puts together mattresses with zippered, quilted covers. Inside we have a firm HR base layer over LuraFlex coils. Over that are two layers of a high ILD of talalay latex. I also have a Omalon topper on the mattress and Cuddlebed topper over that. Perfect combination for us! Since we each sleep on our own mattress, we don't feel the motion we would if it were just one King. Also, my husband has a wee bit firmer HR layer in his mattress. I like being able to "tweak" our mattresses individually if we want.


electracat wrote:
BeddyBye, what type of mattresses do you sleep on? I'm considering putting two twins together, because maybe (??) it would cut down on motion transfer...Do you find it comfortable enough with the attaching device? We're thinking of going with HR foam for the cores, because i think (??) it has the least motion transfer of the foams. <BR><BR>thanks for your reply! :)
Re: My back hurts. I need advice.
Reply #13 Jul 28, 2009 2:41 PM
Joined: Nov 4, 2008
Points: 223
What sort of pricing does Bay Beds have?

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