Hello all, I'm looking for a recommendation for a good mattress for RA flares please. I currently have a tempur mattress, which I find too 'containing' with my RA. It moulds around me and so makes turning very uncomfortable and also puts too much pressure on my shoulders when I'm having a flair.
Any recommendations gladly received please as I'm really suffering from bad sleep and need to try and get this sorted ASAP. I figure a good night's sleep is a decent starting point to trying to stare this awful disease down.
Thanks
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Alex_bee
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The thing is with mattresses each individual will have a different recommendation and none of them might be the right one for you. You really need to go and try some out in a bed shop. I hope you find something.
I agree KittyJ , it would be best to do that but I'm on a waiting list to see the endocrinologist (4 months now). And in the meantime my RA has got so bad that I'm pretty much housebound, so getting to a mattress shop is not feasible at the moment - I need to order online and I figure some input from people who are going through what I am would be better than buying a mattress blind.
Sorry to hear you’re housebound. That makes it difficult. Not being funny but you would still be buying blind as we all have different needs even if we have the same condition/s. I’ve gone through lots of very expensive pillows and a few mattresses that people swore would work for me but guess what, they didn’t. I hope you find the one for you 🤞🏻
I have a Silentnight natural one (think hippo and chick). I have 2000 springs I think and it is topped with wool and silk. Very thick so you need someone to help you turn it periodically. I also bought a goose down topper, quilt and pillows, so I am as cosy as cosy can be (M&S sale). I was without the topper for a few years and it was fine.
My spare bed is a Sealy one which is also great, but not quite as sturdy.
I’ve just come back from a week away. The bed was the most comfortable I have slept on in a very long time. I was joking about taking the mattress home with me when I was talking with the owner of the flat we were in and she said it came from Dreams. So on the morning of departure I stripped the bed and the mattress was indeed from Dreams but it also said ‘Firm’ on it. I was really surprised at that because I was sure it was a soft mattress, I’ve had a firm mattress and it was dreadful. I’ve had a Tempur bed, I know what you mean about Tempur. I’ve had one of the mattresses that come in a box - too hot and very like the Tempur one. I’m now on a JL mattress which really isn’t all that comfortable.
Triuble is I’ve had so many mattresses that I’ve now lost confidence in my ability to choose one - my husband is perfectly happy to buy one like the one we had last week - it wasn’t even all that expensive - but the ‘firm’ has given me doubts. Needless to say I’m waking up in pain again.
So, finding the right bed is a total nightmare. I’m also finding the one I have got is a nightmare to turn, it is so heavy compared to the foam one in the box, besides it didn’t need turning , the Tempur was ok because it didn’t need to be turned either and it comprised of two single mattresses. This one I’ve not got the strength to lift it and I find it hard to get the fitted sheets onto to it too. It’s really not easy to deal with I keep wondering how I’ll manage when we get too old and feeble to be able to turn it. Maybe we’ll need to get a sleeping bag each.
It was a Turner mattress by Dreams. Not at all expensive. But I still can’t pluck up courage to go buy it even though I found it so comfortable.
Just a thought, but many people would have slept on the firm mattress and broken it in so to speak. It could have been very firm to start with . I have a bed from Dreams. I went in and tried all the ones that said soft but ended up with a medium as it was softer than the soft ones. When it arrived I had to buy a topper as it was firmer than the one in the showroom . Again, I presume because many people had laid on it.
Exactly - but we thought of that too and worked that out by how long the lady had been letting the flat - not very long and a lot of the earlier letting were only for weekends so we came to the conclusion that it probably hadn’t been ‘run in’ before we got there ☹️Bed buying is such a minefield.
The other beds I’ve felt quite comfortable on are the ones in the Premier Inn (I think it is ) anyway it’s the ones that Lenny Henry advertises, they sell their mattresses now.
Like others have said it’s very individual I bought a Silentnight 1400 Pocket Tufted Ortho mattress 18 months ago and I love it but have always preferred hard mattresses. I need something that doesn’t mould to me as I get super hot even in winter. I got it because like you I was struggling ++ with sleep and it has made a world of difference to me. Good luck in your search.
I have a comfy dreams medium mattress but it has two layers of mattress toppers on it! I so understand about the tempur mattress. A friend who I stay with sometimes has one. Yuk!
Hi Alex
Sorry for what you're going through. I also found chosing a matress very confusing. That is difficult for you being practically housebound. I hope your situation improves.
I've got a Sealy posturepedic matress. I can't remember if I choose medium or firm but it has a 4 on the label for firmness level...when I bought it from Bensons they said they'd change it no problems after if it is too form or soft after a month... It was pricy but worth it.
I've got back and hip pain with psoriatic arthritis and have quite disturbed sleep with tinnitus as well...the matress has certainly made a difference to sleep quality.
Hi, I know you may not be able to get to a shop but my husband has a terrible back and I don’t like too firm a mattress . We went to Dreams and lay on one of those beds that monitors you, it tells you to turn etc. at the end of the programme the sales advisor told us which mattresses to try which narrowed our search down a lot. Turned out the first bed we tried was a winner, we both found it comfy. Good luck in your search.
I have an Eve mattress and it's perfect for me. It's firm and is quite cooling - I find soft mattresses really mess up my joints in the night personally. The other thing was that they do a 100 day trial so you can send it back if you don't get on with it, I think it's really difficult to know just from testing one in a shop - you have to sleep on it!
I've hurd "eve", are very comfortable, I wanted to try one but my wife wanted to try a futon first. We ended up needing a topper.It works for me but she suffers from hip pain, I think that no matter what mattress we use she will be uncomfortable.
I have a mammoth mattress, it’s like getting on a cloud. Every night I get into bed and say’I love this bed’ took me a very long time to decide and tried hundreds of mattresses. I have bursitis in both my hips left worse than right and I can even sleep on my left side a bit. My back has been less painful at night, I have OA quite bad lumber area with severe spinal cord stenosis and RA everywhere else. For me this mattress has been a sleep/comfort improver, although my bank balance did drop quite a bit, still my pip helped pay for it. The mattress carried no vat as classified at the time as clinical and has clinical grade memory foam etc in it, I believe there is a football team who use them. The only way to find out though is to lie on them😃
I found a futon with a memory foam topper to be very comfortable. Firm underneath with support.I've got a spinal injury along with ra so spend most of the day having to lay in bed. Have tried an expensive mattress but it didn't last long.
As others have said a mattress is a personal thing, something you need to try first.
More expensive doesn't always mean more comfortable.
Some companies do offer a 60 day trial, but choice can be limited and you tend to pay more.
From people I've spoken to many who have ra they find a fairly firmly mattress more comfortable. But it really is down to personal choice.
I bought an Emma mattress it was over £400 but has a 100 night guarantee and I find it very comfortable. We also went for a short break and stayed in a Airbnb which had just had new mattress’s that one was a simba. Like others have said very individual and it’s not easy when you can’t try them before you buy them. If it was me I’d buy one with a long guarantee as sending it back had to be cheaper than having to keep changing them. The Emma is much cooler than my last one too. I’ve also changed from 2 pillows to 1 as I’m finding that 2 pillows really make my neck much worse but don’t have the problem with one. Good luck hope you find one that works for you.
We have a good spring mattress but with a latex topper for me as softer than lying directly on the mattress. Hubby gets hot but puts up with it for me 😁
As everyone is commenting,buying anew mattress is a nightmare.We’re currently sleeping on a Silent night mattress king size orthopaedic.it was a bit hard for me when we bought it,we bought a basic foam mattress topper.
It did the trick for a while.
I’ve been diagnosed with RA and last year I started suffering from sore hips in the morning .I bought aSilentnight mattress topper, I can’t remember the name of it.it was about £95, I researched the price online the day I bought it,Amazon was about £5 cheaper on the day.
If / when I replace it,I would be inclined to buy a super king,the king doesn’t go to the edges of the mattress.
I have had the same trouble with mattresses. We bought a bed with an expensive mattress about four years ago and I chose a medium mattress with over a thousand pocketed springs with a built-in memory foam topper. I thought it was a bit soft when it arrived. Shortly after, I developed RA and I struggled with turning over and generally found it too soft. Since then I have suffered with a badly fractured vertebrae in my lumber region plus a number of smaller fractures higher up (thanks I believe to cortico steroids). I thought about mattresses used by Premier Inns as I have always found these comfortable in the past. These are made by Hypnos, a British company over 100 years old. I’ve just looked at their website, Hypnosbeds.com, but they have dozens of different mattresses. A number of different retail outlets stock them. So my next task is to try some of these out but that will not be easy and it will have to suit my wife as well.
My best ever was a relyon and we made the mistake of buy a John Lewis (Hypnos) and will be changing it very soon great for someone who is a guest but not suitable for every night.
I have a Vi-Spring Elite mattress which is made from natural fibres and breathable. I’ve had it for 12 years and it’s still in very good condition and perfect for me.I have had a bad back for 30 years and was advised by my chiropractor not to make the commonly made mistake of buying an orthopaedic or firm mattress as it’s important for the spine to be straight and fully supported when lying on my side.
Vi-Spring are expensive but are guaranteed for 25 years and so a good investment.
Thank you for posting. We have a vi spring, very expensive, which is sagging after 12 years, I didn't know about the 30 year guarantee but someone is now going to come and inspect it 😁.
I have a Dunlopillo natural latex mattress which is really good but it was very expensive. Again, the difficulty is knowing the degree of 'hardness' that you need. If you are light you probably need something softer than if you are heavy. It's a catch 22...I would recommend that you get a mattress that can be returned after, say thirty, or a hundred days, if it doesn't suit you. I hope you find what is right for you. x
Sleepeezee have mattress that is quite firm but very comfortable. I went into dreams beds and told manager I had RA he recommended three different beds to try 💐good luck
Good luck in your quest. I have a couple of pointers from your thread, and I am sure you have helped others.
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