My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Mar 18, 2010 6:44 PM
Joined: Jan 10, 2010
Points: 42
I thought it would be useful to other pain people to document our experience, so here's my 2 month update.  First here's my previous report, after 2.5 wks - sorry this is redundent, but I've edited a bit for length:

Me:  130 lb, fused spine, chronic lower back pain, side sleeper.  Starting configuration:  F/F/XF.
Husband:  210 lb, occasional ergonomic back pain, back sleeper.  Starting configuration F/XF/XF.

Set it up on the old boxsprings because we didn't have the platform bed yet.  BIG MISTAKE.  Neither of us slept.  Covered the old base with plywood.  Better, but still much, much too soft.  Reconfigured to F/XF/F (me) and XF/F/XF (him).  Both woke up with back pain the next morning.

Removed the egg crate layer on the top.  He slept much better, but it was a complete disaster for me.  Replaced egg crate layer after moving all firmest layers as far up as possible.  XF/F/F (me), XF/XF/F (him).  Still very uncomfortable for me - XF/F/F hurts both back and shoulders, returned to F/XF/F which hurts only back.  Husband sleeping, but not happy.

Conclusion:  Mattress is obviously much much much too soft for us!  Given my back issues Dave recommended an XF VZone customized to my back problem, with the hip support firmer than his regular vzone.

New layers arrived (2 weeks in at this point).  His mattress is now XF/SF/XF and he is much, much happier.  My VZone is XF under the hips and lumbar region, but it had an M piece under the shoulders.  I swapped that with the head piece to get F under the shoulders.  I've slept much better on this and my lower back is much happier.  It still feels a little weird, as though my head is downhill from the rest of me, and I've had some neck and shoulder pain that may or may not be related to the mattress.   So I'll be moving the VZone components around for a while to see what I can make better.

We both still hate the eggcrate layer.

Update:  After a couple of weeks of moving the various pieces of the Vzone around I was close to giving up on latex.  I tried every combination that made sense and nothing seemed to help.  Until I tried one last combination that didn't make as much sense:  I took the one small piece of superfirm foam and put that under my hips.  Bingo. 

Now top layer is M under my shoulders, F under lumbar, and SF under the hips, over F and XF lower layers, and I've had no pain in 11 days.  None.  Every morning I wake up feeling fine.  It's a miracle.  There is now a pretty huge difference in firmness between the shoulders and the hips and I really did not expect that to work, but that's what my back wanted after all.  Dave is now sending me an 18" SF piece for under my hips since 10" isn't much to aim for (that's how big the SF currently under my hips is). 

My husband is still not entirely satisfied with the bed, which feels too mushy to him.  Dave is sending a new SF piece to bring him to XF/SF/SF; we'll see how that goes.  But he does sleep well and wakes up without aches and pains, which is the main thing. 

The interesting thing here is that I always expected that when I found the perfect bed I would stretch out and immediately think, "aaah, this is it!".  That didn't happen.  Still doesn't.  I have slept on mattresses in hotels that felt great upon lying down, but not upon getting up.  I have bought mattresses before that feel wonderful in the store but don't work out.  When I lie on my new bed it doesn't feel like anything special, and I think of nothing more than "ok, bedtime".  But I sleep soundly and wake up happy.  I now wonder if it's even possible to try a bed in a store, or to predict what the right mattress is, at least for me. 

My back pain comes and goes in severity, so I know better than to get my hopes up too far.  But this is the best I've felt in a long time.  I hope it lasts.

Linda

This message was modified Mar 18, 2010 by lnkholder
Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #8 Mar 19, 2010 3:02 PM
Joined: Oct 15, 2009
Points: 966
The wool top can be completely unzipped and taken off.  So, you have the option to not use the wool if you really don't want to.  However, it is nice to have some kind of top to hold it together.  Flobeds does not sell any other options for the zippered top.   I think the wool does moderate extreme temperatures a bit.

I never felts the bumps of the covoluted layer.  I think with the wool top on and a mattress pad and sheet over, the feeling is really muted. 

I did try it with the convoluted piece flipped over.  It might feel slightly firmer that way.  Not sure I noticed much of a difference.

 

 

 

Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #9 Mar 19, 2010 5:30 PM
Joined: Jan 10, 2010
Points: 42
I tried flipping the topper over but that didn't make any difference (I hadn't actually expected it to).  I will probably flip it back at the next layer exchange.  I tried removing the topper completely but sleeping directly on the cores was uncomfortable, so we put it back.

Dave assured us early on that any part of the bed can be exchanged, including the topper.

Linda

Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #10 Mar 19, 2010 10:58 PM
Joined: Aug 31, 2007
Points: 793
Inkholder, congratulations on finally getting your bed to feel comfortable. I am glad I bought the FloBeds latex kit and would have tried the VZone if it was out when I first ordered. The convoluted topper was too thick for me.  Dave worked with me on the latex cores and tried to work with me on the topper but when I saw the Brylane Queen 1" natural latex topper on sale with a great return policy, I decided to try it. I love having the 1" of cushion over my XF over the XF over the Super Firm latex cores on my side of the bed. On my other side of the bed, the set-up is similar but slightly softer since each latex core has a range in ILD's.  My natural latex pillows help me also. I had a car accident 2.5 years ago and Dave let me exchange past the 90 days to get the two Super Firm latex cores since due to the herniated disks I now have from the car accident, I needed my bed a bit firmer. I really love sleeping on my latex bed and I love the zippered up mattress cover.  It took me 6 Overstock standard natural Talalay Latex pillows to find two pillows that were the perfect height for my petite frame. I use the other pillows as shams when I want to dress up the bed.

 

I know others that love the convoluted topper but it made the bed too soft for me since I did not sink in enough to feel the extra firm layer underneath. I had started off with a bed way too soft which hurt my back. I tried laying on the latex cores without the topper but since I sleep on my side, I needed the little bit of cushion to soften up the pressure points on my hips and shoulders.

This message was modified Mar 19, 2010 by Lynn2006
Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #11 Mar 26, 2010 1:46 AM
Joined: May 3, 2008
Points: 827
Is your bed still comfortable for you?  Did you find a cheap foundation?  I hope it is still working for you.
Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #12 May 4, 2010 11:44 PM
Location: Oregon
Joined: Feb 26, 2010
Points: 4
Linda,

Thanks so much for being persistant......I'm following your lead and shifting towards the firmer v-zone to find the pain

free combination....

Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #13 May 5, 2010 5:44 PM
Joined: Aug 31, 2007
Points: 793
Jerry T, I have found out that what is comfortable when initially lying on a bed is a lot of cushion but what is comfortable throughout the night for me and upon waking up is a very firm bed with only a tiny bit of cushion for my pressure points.  My latex pillow that is the perfect height for me and firmness level mades going to bed such a comfort.  I love my latex pillow.
Re: My Flobed (month #2 of trial)
Reply #14 May 17, 2010 10:57 PM
Location: Oregon
Joined: Feb 26, 2010
Points: 4
Linda.

I've moved to an extra firm hip and a super firm lumbar.........seems to be working....

However, you have a super firm hip and extra firm lumbar.....just the opposite.....are you sleeping 8 hours without pain....??

Jerry T.

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