New mattress - new neck pain, help!

June 10, 2012 12:38 PM

First night on the new mattress and I feel horrible - do I need a topper or a new pillow or ??? We replaced our sagging mushy tempurpedic with a new latex mattress yesterday and while it felt awesome when we first went to bed over the course of the night I went from comfy to miserable. I woke up exhuasted, with a headache and tight neck and shoulders. My husband slept great and he is the one with serious back pain, so I want to make this bed work for us.

I'm not sure how to alleviate my pain - I'd buy a memory foam topper except part of our dissatisfaction with the tempur was that it slept too hot. Since the pain isn't in my back, maybe it's not the mattress but the mattress combined with my pillow (also an aging tempur)? Any suggestions on what to try tonight? We're both side, side/stomach sleepers, I'm also 3 months pregnant.

posted by snowymorninblues to Home & Garden (12 answers total)

My partner and I had the same problem. I loved our new mattress from the first night. He was achy and thought we had made a mistake. I bought a thick mattress pad (not memory or down, just regular fiber fill) and that helped him a great deal. By the second week, he had completely adjusted and loved our mattress too. It may just take some time for your body to adjust to the extra support.
posted by kimdog at 12:47 PM on June 10, 2012 [1 favorite]

Try a fluffy mattress pad, like a down topper or something.

I love my Japanese soba pillow, I can't sleep without it!

The Sobakowa pillow advertised on TV and sold at stores ending in Mart is a close second.

I like my beds as hard as poured concrete and I've got the mother of all back issues. The super-hard mattress is wonderful!

You might like a body pillow as well. As you get adjusted to your mattress, I think you'll grow to love it. Husbunny thought I was nuts about the firm/rock hard mattress, now he'll sleep on nothing but!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:00 PM on June 10, 2012

I had problems when we got rid of our box springs and put our mattress on a board. Too hard, and I had sore hips in the mornings. A really thick (expensive!) downy pad made the mattress too soft and hard to turn on and gave me a sore back. So I put that under the mattress (added softness above the board) and put a 1 inch fiberfill topper on. Now it's comfortable.

TL;DR: It may take a little tweaking, but stick with it.
posted by SLC Mom at 1:28 PM on June 10, 2012

You may adjust to the mattress without adding any toppers or anything. After the first night sleeping on my mattress, I was sure I was going to die, but after a week or so, I completely adjusted.
posted by Blue Jello Elf at 1:48 PM on June 10, 2012

I got a latex mattress a few years back; I tend to prefer foam matresses to ones with springs, and I found that I didn't like it much unless I have a foam matress topper - not a memory foam, but one of the egg-carton-looking ones. with that, it's perfect - comfy, and not too hot.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:16 PM on June 10, 2012

Keep in mind that you could be reacting to outgassing of volatile organics from a new mattress, especially one made of latex.
posted by jamjam at 2:28 PM on June 10, 2012 [2 favorites]

Just bought a new memory foam mattress. Guy at the store warned it may take a month or more to adjust.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:42 PM on June 10, 2012

We've also been told that memory foam definitely needs to be given a bit of time for your body to adjust; latex is a bit different, but since you're coming from memory foam, I'd suggest sticking with it as best you can for a week or so before trying a topper.
posted by holgate at 2:52 PM on June 10, 2012

You have to give a new mattress at least a week: Both the mattress guy AND my doctor warned me of that (I was in such terrible misery that even my doctor was in on the mattress purchase!). I slept much better on the new mattress immediately (though with aches in odd places); my husband took about two weeks to adjust and kept wanted to return it to the store because he was so achy and sore. Now he (somewhat grudgingly) admits that once he adjusted to the new mattress, it was much better.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 3:12 PM on June 10, 2012

Lots of fluffy down pillows you can cushion whatever is sore.
posted by Jandoe at 5:39 PM on June 10, 2012

Any furniture store worth it's salt will give you 30 days to sleep on a new mattress because it can take time for your body to adjust.
posted by Silvertree at 6:40 PM on June 10, 2012

You might actually try new pillows. When I sleep at my in-laws, I always wake up in pain, and eventually determined its because the pillows there are too thick, which is compounded by the fact that the matters is firm.
posted by dpx.mfx at 6:25 AM on June 11, 2012