Hi, I am interested in purchasing a mattress topper. We have had our current mattress for approx. 10yrs. It was bought with the bed frame which has a slatted base. The mattress is a DORLUX super king which states on the label that it has 'over 1300 easyrest pocketed springs in a 150 king size mattress' so presumably it has considerably more than 1300 pocketed springs. I have suffered with lower back pain for years (probably about 25 years). I am 45yrs old and weigh approx. 11 1/2 stone. I am 5'8". My wife is 5'6" tall and approx. 9 1/2 stone. I generally find that my back pain decreases quite quickly after getting out of bed. I have no problem with lifting, exercising etc. and put my problem down to stiffening up at night. I also don't get much sleep at all. Generally I go to sleep very quickly (in a matter of a few minutes) and sleep soundly for about 3 to 4 hours if I'm lucky. I then basically toss and turn for the rest of the night. I don't wake up fully and lie there thinking I could get up but go straight back off to sleep again but though I haven't ever counted, it feels like I continue to repeat this process dozens of times through the remainder of the night until I get up. I am a shift worker so this doesn't help and strangely I don't often feel really tired in the day as I don't think I need the 'traditional 8 hours'. However...on the odd occasion that I do sleep really well without the tossing and turning, I wake up feeling completely different i.e better!

We bought a mattress topper a year or so ago which is filled with a 'spiral fibre filling''. It is made by Dorma. When we first put it on the bed it did feel incredibly comfortable. It has now compressed to the point of being useless apart from around the edges. Apart from being comfy, I can't say it really made any significant difference to my sleep. Subsequently, we were in the market for a completely new bed or mattress and to be honest if I could guarantee a regular good nights sleep I would pay as much as a decent car costs. However, I would rather have a decent car!

I therefore want to be realistic about how much to spend on the bed / mattress / topper!

Having done a lot of research and resisted the urge to throttle quite a few bed salespeople, we have come to the conclusion (probably wrongly) that we do not yet need a new mattress. Though it is getting on a bit and has some discolouration it has virtually no signs of wear and only a very small indentation where we both lie. I guess this may be due to us both being quite light. In view of this and reading through your website, we thought it might be best to try a really good quality topper first rather than getting a mattress and topper. The theory being that if the topper works...result for a while then replace the mattress in a year or two if necessary to give the best of both worlds. I find our soft sofa far more comfortable than the bed and really don't want a hard feeling topper so was shying away from the latex though it does sound good. I was coming down on the Laygel 7.5cm as the cool blue and laytex both sound like they may be more firm which I don't think I'd bee keen on. I am beginning to be convinced after all the research that my tossing and turning is a result of pressure after a few hours causing me discomfort and waking me. I sleep mostly on my side and sleep better when I'm on my back which seems to support this theory. Apologies for the mega long sleep clinic style e-mail!

Hopefully you can recommend what would be best i.e. which topper or a complete new mattress. >