Finding a bed for fibromyalgia
Like most other fibromites I’ve struggled with finding a decent bed. I’ve tried them all. It’s just me, so during the move I could make it with just my car. Driving a truck down here was going to cost as much as a new bed. No matter which mattress I chose I always have to use a feather bed and then a memory foam topper on top of that one. Most mattresses have tufting or diverts that cause me pain. I’ve tried a memory foam bed but it was too expensive and wasn’t soft enough.
So my great plan was to just sleep on a futon with all the toppers on it. That plan changed after one night. My next plan was to sleep on an air bed with toppers on it. It was a double sized air bed and actually quite comfortable. It rivaled my old traditional bed, but it was too hard to regulate the air every night. So I ended up at the mattress store spending money that I hadn’t planned on spending which was stressful enough. Mattress salesman are akin to used car salesman. I say I can afford xxx amount. They say “Well actually you can afford xxxx because we have a payment plan.”
I tried all kinds of beds. Even the $5000 ones weren’t comfortable to me. I realized after awhile that it didn’t matter if the top was made out of cashmere because I’d be putting a sheet over it anyways. I went to every store in town, except the Intelligel store. I had priced those beds before and knew that I couldn’t afford it. On their commercials they say their beds are good for fibro. Maybe someday I’ll be able to pickup an Intelligel topper. Does anyone have experience with Intelligel?
One salesman was actually helpful, well he was before he started to try to sell me a bed that is worth more than my car. He said that since I toss and turn all night I really need pocketed coils. With memory foam, your body has to make a new divot every time you move. Good old springs adjust automatically. I don’t remember exactly what the pocketed coils did to make such a difference, but they did something awesome. So this wasn’t a case of more expensive is actually better.
By the end of the day, I had gone out to the car twice to cry, which isn’t really like me. It was one of the most frustrating experiences that I’d ever had. It’s hard living in a body that never feels comfort, no matter the cost. The last store I went into, the salesman stuck to my price range. I laid on a bed and it was like laying on a cloud. I told him to write it up. On the drive home I realized that while I know everything about every bed in the world now, I didn’t even know about the bed I had just bought. I asked the delivery man yesterday and he said it was pocketed coils with a very thin layer of memory foam on top. The sides of the mattress are covered in foam as well. There are a few tufts on the mattress, but they aren’t deep. I slept very well on it last night without any toppers, but I’ll have to see if it lasts.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Hm, that one you just bought sounds interesting… definitely keep us updated as to whether or not the good sleep and feel of it lasts.
I haven’t had any luck yet with beds either, but part of it is that hubby is picky too and we just can’t agree yet so we continue with the one we’ve had the past 7 years (Sealy Posturepedic Pillowtop… ack). Haven’t tried toppers yet but hope too. The research I’ve done so far points to all things latex. Have you tried any of those?
I wrote in to this great sales guy in NJ who has a fabulous mattress blog. Here’s his response to me: http://blog.pennlive.com/mattress/2009/03/rochelle_a_mattress_for_fibrom.html – what do you think? They’re a bit pricey but I hope to give it a try one of these years, if hubby can be arm-wrestled into it!
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I spent a fortune on a good, relative hard mattress and I find it helps my fibro pain!
A New Zealand Fibromite
http://myfibromyalgiajournal.wordpress.com
June 30th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I cant believe how many things fibromites have in common!I thought i was the weird one becouse i bought 3 matresses and then i decided to sleep on the old one!!The problem was that “latex”really bothers me,it makes me very uncomfortable!!And everybody uses latex!!What do you think about it?
June 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Anatomic matresses with pocket springs and latex make my pain worst!What kind of matress do you have?
August 7th, 2009 at 3:12 am
gosh you really do suffer a lot form the condition that you are having. it is good that there are people who shares the same feeling as you.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
My bed is uncomfortable but we can’t afford a new one yet so I’m trying to find something better than my egg crate foam topper I’ve had for years. I’m considering a fake down “featherbed” and a memory foam topper, among other things.
A year ago, my husband and I stayed in a hotel that had a Sleep Number bed. I know they get bad reviews, but for that night, we were in heaven! My sleep number turned out to be about 25, and my husband’s was 75! It was as if we were in two separate beds but we slept well. When we are ready for a new bed, I guess we could replace the king with two twins so that we can get what we need (unless Sleep Number quality improves and goes down in price).
I need something very soft that I can just sink into and trying to find something that will work without spending a lot.
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:55 am
I’ve never heard of the sleep number beds, but have a memory foam mattress topper which I really enjoy. How deep is the topper part on your new mattress? At present mine is a 1″ version, but I was thinking about upgrading to a 3″ to get a little extra comfort. I’m based in the UK so I don’t think we can get Intelligel, but I’ll check it out. Thanks, appreciated your thoughts on this.
May 28th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
There have been often reports of people getting finally a good night sleep after years of sleeping on the wrong type of mattress (either too soft, or too hard for their comfort level), only because they added a pillow top mattress pad on top of their mattress.
July 27th, 2010 at 9:41 am
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November 21st, 2010 at 1:19 am
I have had was diagnosed with fibro in 2000.I ,too, have a bed difficulty. We bought a Simmons memory foam. (We bought the demo because it had plush on one side and firm on the other for hubby).That was three weeks ago- I am not getting the relief I had expected. We are on a 30 day trial and went in today . We are going to try a sleep number knock off. I will let you know how that goes.
I laid on a Tempurpedic in the beginning of our search. It was the cloud luxe (or something like that) >I think it will work because I could actually feel my vertebrae being surrounded by a cloud. BUT it is $4000. So we are trying this instead. If this does not work we are going to bite the bullet and get the temp. Fortunately most stores are offering the trial period with no penalty for return.
My hubby is extremely supportive and I feel so guilty about needing a soft bed with support because he needs (likes) a firm bed) Anyway I am glad I found this site. Sometimes just having others who understand because they are there too helps.
Thanks for listening.
September 6th, 2011 at 6:11 am
hello, if anyone can help me i would appreciate it so much…i am ooking for any help/suggestions re: a bed I can sleep on w/ out getting a migraine or hurting my body. I have fibromyalgia so I need a bed that is really soft, but I also have MCS(multiple chemical sensitivity) so I react to most beds(fire retardant chemicals in mattresses) w/ a migraine w/in half an hour of laying on one..haven’t been able to find a bed for over 10 years! Tried almost everything…
Tried all natural beds(gave me a migraine as well cause smelled too natural(burlap sack smell). Any soft cushiony toppers are either foam or natural latex which smell and give me a migraine. Tried special zippered covers designed for people… w/ chemical sensitivities..didn’t work and could smell everything through the cover. Even researched online and covered my bed in mylar blankets(kind of like aluminum foil)…no help either. I just would really love a bed I could sleep on that wouldn’t hurt either my body or my head and i’m tired of sleeping on a couch for 10 years(only thing that doesn’t give me a migraine but really aggravates my fibro symptoms;-(………any help/thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated! ps..i see some have tried wool mattresses but i am allergic and get migraines from the smell of wool so that is out and i am at my witz end…please help! Carmen