Struggling with Back and Hip Pain on Dream Foam Ultimate Dreams Mattress: Need Advice!

Mattress Talk General Mattresses Questions
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Dear forum members,

I have been reading the forum the last few weeks looking to learn and improve my sleeping situation. It’s day 4/5 sleeping on a new Dream Foam Ultimate Dreams Eurotop mattress and I am experiencing hip and lower back pain every morning. I work in EMS and coming to work with a sore back is a potentially dangerous situation. I’ve come to seek advice and have shared below my mattress choices and experience so far. I’m grateful for your two cents–thanks for reading!!

First of all, some brief background. A few years ago (prior to moving out of the US) I was comfortably sleeping on a firmer Novafoam mattress from Costco (dont know the model). I have also slept on other memory foam mattresses comfortably, a very comfortable firmer latex mattress that I loved, and an air mattress (no sagging) that surprisingly was quite supportive and comfortable. I recently moved and ordered from Novafoam mattress from Costco expecting to love it. Unfortunately, this time the mattress was nothing like the one I was sleeping on years ago. It was extremely soft, I sank deeply into it, had trouble turning over was very hot. Suffice to say, I didn’t sleep well and ached a little in the morning. I arranged for a return (thanks Costco!!) and began researching before purchasing a new mattress because I did not want to do another return.

While waiting for the Novafoam mattress to be picked up, I flipped it upside down and slept on the firm side. It was a little too firm, but it overall it felt supportive and the aches went away. I even considered keeping it, but I wasn’t sure about sleeping on the base layer with the comfort layer down. Plus the return process was underway.

After much reading and budget consideration, I ordered the Ultimate Dreams mattress with a firmness rating of 4. I called DreamFoam prior to shipment to discuss firmness and mentioned that I am a “warm” sleeper, 6’ 200 lb female (BMI of 27, slightly overweight aka not petite), back and side sleeper and prefer a firmer mattress. I went with the recommended firmness level of 4.

My experience sleeping on it so far is miserable. It’s soft with some bounce or push back, yet I’m sinking much more then I find comfortable; I have a little trouble rolling over. When I lay on my back, it feels like I can feel the base layer through the top layer under my bottom and my lower back arches a bit instead of feeling supported. Neither on my back nor side do I feel aligned and supported. I’m waking up daily aching across my lower back, stiffness and pain at my right hip is more pronounced today. All this is new since sleeping on this mattress. Thank goodness for advil. J

So, the mattress has a 100 trial and you can switch out the firmness of the comfort layer. However, I’m no long feeling confident about this mattress despite being optimistic the first couple of nights that it would improve. I do continue to believe that I can get a proper night sleep without blowing my budget. Right now I’m wishing I just kept the Novafoam and used it upside down!

As I mentioned, I did much reading here (shopping guide, discussion etc) and elsewhere on the web before ordering this mattress in addition to laying a number of different mattresses. I thought I was buying a great mattress for me. The problem is: it’s not. So, what next?

I’m still learning and it seems searching for a (very firm memory foam or latex?) mattress that couture and supports without the sinking feeling. I think I may sleep on the floor tonight instead of the mattress, which seems crazy, but may be better…

Suggestions Please, please!!! Any thoughts based on whatever I’ve shared? Thanks for reading and all the great information and discussion on the forum; It’s really helpful!!

S.

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Hi ssc19,

Welcome to the Mattress Forum! :slight_smile:

Mattress models will change from year to year, so even though the parent company name was the same, it would be unlikely (as you discovered) that the more recent Novafoam mattress you purchased would be the same as the one you purchased years ago. However, your experience with past mattresses, this mattress, and flipping the product over, certainly did provide you some useful information about your surface comfort sleeping preference. It does seem that you respond best to a bit of a firmer, or not as thick, surface comfort layer, with good support beneath. This of course is assuming that you’re not using some sort of a different foundation that is flexing and changing the feel of the new mattress versus your old mattress. At least you did have the foresight to choose a product that did allow for a return/exchange.

A phone conversation is always the best next step when ordering online, as it gives the manufacturer the best chance at addressing your concerns and hopefully finding something that will give you the best chance at success. The components in the mattress you selected certainly are a good enough quality/durability for your BMI, and Dreamfoam is a member here of the site, which means I think highly of them and their products.

I’m sorry your Ultimate Dreams Eurotop mattress isn’t working out as well as you had hoped for so farin its current configuration. While there is always a period of what I term “retrogression” when you start sleeping upon a new mattress wen you don’t tend to sleep so well, what you are describing seems to be in the same vein as what you experienced previously with some of the other mattresses you tried that you found a bit too plush. But here again you did a great job selecting something that is customizable and has a good return/exchange policy – good job! :wink:

My first thought would be to have you flip the product over (like you did for the Novafoam that you didn’t like) and sleep on the product upside down for a few nights and see if you can get a bit better sleep and also see if that starts to point you in a better direction until you have a chance to contact Dreamfoam. Then I would phone Dreamfoam and speak to them regarding your situation and see what suggestions they would have for creating a bit of a firmer surface comfort. Even if they end up creating a specification for you that might rate a 1 or a 2 (firmer) on their firmness scale, realize that this wouldn’t mean that the mattress would feel like the floor, as these scales are only used to help compare products within their lineup to each other and are not an ultimate scale of hardness. I would then test out their suggestion (new configuration) and see if you have some improvement. The components used in this mattress are some of the best in quality you’ll find for your price point, so I certainly would want to attempt another configuration from Dreamfoam before deciding to move on, and Talalay does hit two of your other issues of being breathable and allowing better repositioning as compared to memory foam.

As you said you’ve been reading on the forum, so you’re already well aware that no one can pick out a mattress for you and that the focus here is to give you the tools to do your best to make an educated decision. With the information you’ve provided, I would follow the advice I presented above and see what a firmer surface comfort layer would do with this particular mattress before moving on and starting all over. That’s the best “theory at a distance”, as I like to call it, that I would be able to offer.

I’ll be interested to learn about how you sleep if you flip the mattress over and if you decide to try out a bit of a firmer surface comfort.

Phoenix

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I have heard many people recommending medium-firm mattress for back pain. But you can try different mattresses and see which one feels best for you.