OT: Mattress Advice

This isn't really OT; if your spine is as messed up as mine has been lately, it's not easy to reach out and turn an knob on a console, use a mouse, or play a guitar.

I need a new mattress, and really would like to spend less than $1000 (quite a bit less, if possible). That gives me a good range to work with.

Any advice on a brand or model I should look at? I'm going to my local Super Duper Mattress World this weekend and getting it ASAP. My current one is causing me major problems. I could tell very easily because when I was in a hotel last weekend, my back felt great, and as soon as I got home and spent a night in my own bed, my sciatica came back with a vengeance. Plus, I think I bought my current mattress sometime in 1846. It dips about three feet in the middle. It must go.

Advice? Mahalo.

Memory foam! TempurPedic or equivalent. Firmness to taste.

I paid $2,400 for my mattress - and it's worth every penny of it. Both my wife and I lost our back pains after using it for a couple nights.

Buy the best mattress you can afford. Cut corners elsewhere - getting a good sleep is too important. We spend a third of our lives sleeping.

And don't you forgeeet it!

Seems like a wise place to stretch in terms of price as you'll probably spend like 1/4-1/3 of your time there

Right on! You probably spend more time in bed than in your car. So buy a great mattress and a junko car.

John:cool:

oh, whoops - sorry bit of a cross-post there

I would second the memory foam suggestion. It really does work. The trick is to lose the springs. You need a plywood/solid base that the memory foam mattress sits on. Our new bed is set up just this way and I'll never go back to a spring mattress. -stranger MD

Oh my God. Yeah, our old bed is just like that. It's what's warping your spine. That and excessive computer usage. But, we know that one isn't going. I opted for new bed vs quit computers.

I would second the memory foam suggestion. It really does work. The trick is to lose the springs. You need a plywood/solid base that the memory foam mattress sits on. Our new bed is set up just this way and I'll never go back to a spring mattress. -stranger MD

Well, yes, but since your mattress is your place of business you probably get to write some of that off

I thought weasels curled up in a small ball at the bottom of a lair?

Yes, but I need a better lair.

$2,400 feels like a lot of money. I have indeed seen those at that price. I don't want to skimp on this but... {censored}, that's a load of dough for some foam.

Still, I appreciate the advice. Keep it coming. I will be definitely making a purchase on Saturday in any case. I got a new desk chair last week and that seems to be helping as well. Now I have to solve the "place where I spend 1/3 of my life" issue.

I went to a big mattress warehouse place that had lots of different brands at discount prices. Ended up with a Sealy Posturpedic. The thing is though, mattresses are kinda like monitors - they're all different, different people like different ones better and you just have to be able to lie on a bunch and try them out to make a decision. Other people's recommendations probably won't do you too much good.

I don't think you need to spend $2400 though.

You obviously have nothing constructive to add? Isn't one of me enough?

FWIW I feel ya - I just had to get orthodics (insoles) - I think they are like $800 (but insurance is helping there)

basically, my overpronation has caused chrontic tendonitis and basically has killed my activity (which sucks b/c bicycle is my favored mode on land)

ortho issues really can suck the life out of you

(hey, I'm trying to get the wifey in to the doc and switch matresses right now...for back pain, so let me know how this plys out for ya as I'm a couple of weeks to your back)

I am considering a mattress purchase as well, and right now, Tempurpedic or Select Comfort seem like the best bets. They're both expensive, though, but if it's the back that you are considering, and you consider how much $ you've spent on chiropractors, doctors, lost wages, etc., then spending extra money doesn't seem like such a stupid thing.

Isn't one of me enough?

dunno - do you charge a whole lot extra for 3 way action?

I tend to agree. I am very aware of the value, and that's not even assigning a dollar figure to the pain itself.

Like Lee said, I will definitely know more after I've laid down on a bunch of them. I just didn't want to assume that I HAD to spend $2400 to get a quality product, or that all the $700 mattresses sucked. Again, kinda like audio gear.

Spend the money - you won't regret it after a week of sleeping on it.

I bought a king-sized Stearns and Foster pillow top with a super plush pillowed matress pad - cost me about 2 grand in 2002.

I weigh 280 and can literally toss myself onto the matress and it doesn't move. I've never had a bad night's sleep on it.

I had heard this was the thread about stuffing money in mattresses.

Yet, oddly, that's not quite it.

As a fellow back-pain sufferer (I completly crushed 4 vertebrae at the age of 16), I can tell you: The best cure for back pain is 30 to 60 minutes of yoga each day. If you're not up to that, Tai Chi is a great place to start (it is much more gentle and less strenuous than yoga).

As far as mattresses, I've never run into one that completely fills my need, though hotel mattresses come close. I still spend one or two nights a month sleeping on the living room floor...

Like Lee said, I will definitely know more after I've laid down on a bunch of them. I just didn't want to assume that I HAD to spend $2400 to get a quality product, or that all the $700 mattresses sucked. Again, kinda like audio gear.

Well as long as you don't buy it from a big furniture retailer, you shouldn't have to spend that much. If you get it from a clearance warehouse, and are willing to drive out to bum-{censored}, away from the places where there are people with money, you can find name brands at deep discounts. I think the retail price of my mattress (not box spring, just mattress) was like $1200 and I paid like $500 for it.

Does anyone know of a place where one can purchase Select Comfort or Tempurpedic mattresses without paying through the nose for it?

I know that Living Spaces has Tempurpedic (and maybe Select Comfort?), but I am not sure how cheap they are.

overstock.com, in the $5-600 range. Knockoffs, but I believe they use the same foamy goodness as the brand names.

I found this USA Memory Store company on eBay, but I have no idea how good it is.

http://stores.ebay.com/USA-Memory-Foam_W0QQgclidZCKSoz8CfmJYCFQ51Nbxwodt2p0oQ51QQtZkm

http://www.usmemoryfoam.com/

I know that. I was in martial arts in my youth, and have recently begun stretching again, and it's helping.

I also know, though, that the main contributing factor at the moment is the bed. Mine is old and really screwed up, so the new bed will definitely be a huge step in the right direction. I usually feel my worst right when I get up in the morning, and that's a crappy way to start each day.