A BED OF BRICKS

The big issue in Asia is getting a comfortable mattress. Asian mattresses are hard as a rock – you may as well be sleeping on a bed of bricks – no lie. It is well beyond firm. Joe and I both hate a firm mattress. When we first arrived here I did not sleep for nearly 3 months. Keep in mind we had 2 mattress toppers on our bed too – still uncomfortable. My sleep schedule was so messed up – I could not sleep well during the night so then I’d nap on the sofa during the day. It was horrible. Then Joe went on a business trip for work and I decided to try his side of the bed – I slept like a baby. I had always slept on the right side of the bed but I quickly switched and became a left side sleeper. Joe didn’t really care, he was just happy I was finally getting some sleep and back on schedule.

Then we moved apartments just before Nick was born into a family sized apartment. My big concern was being able to move our mattress to the new apartment, which was provided by the apartment building. Well apparently the apartment we were moving to had a different owner – it is owned by the ex-husband of the owner of the building – apparently the owner of the building owns all the land and buildings in our neighborhood and the ex-husband in the divorce settlement got one building plus a couple apartments in our building – ours being one of them. Well he had no problem with us taking our mattress with us but he would not let us take our bed frame and the only bed frame they would give us – the mattress did not fit on it. So in the end, we could not take the mattress with us. So we got a new mattress. I dreaded going back to sleep on it. But surprise – surprise, it was fine. I even moved back to the right side of the bed! Then we went home to MD for a quick visit for two weeks. Ever since we came back we have both had issues sleeping on the mattress. Joe can get to sleep but his back kills him in the morning and sometimes he wakes early with back pain and ends up out on the sofa for his last hour or two. I cannot get to sleep because I cannot get comfortable. I toss and turn for hours before sleeping. Once asleep it is not a restful sleep – it is like I am half asleep and half not. I also wake with horrible back pain. We have traded sides, flipped the mattress every which way imaginable, added an egg crate and nothing has worked yet. A friend of ours told us that she and her husband had the same issues when they got here and her husband has had so many issues with his hips and knees and ended up with knee surgery. I swear when you get out of bed it’s like your entire body aches. Joe’s back, hip and knees have been bothering him. The friend said she finally got a memory foam mattress topper and that along with 3 other toppers on the bed finally did the trick. It is just ridiculous that you have to get 4 toppers to make a bed comfortable but we just spent $350 on a king size mattress memory foam topper and are praying this does the trick. Wish us luck!