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- Verified Buyer
Ok. So a few weeks ago my back went out...again. It does this every so often, as it has been doing since I was 19 years old. Diagnosed with herniated disks while in college, I suffered a major crisis back crisis in 2006 where my disks had slipped so far out of pace that I could barely walk. Sciatica added to the situation and I was almost wheelchair bound (at just 33 years old) by the time I ended up in emergency surgery (after passing out from the pain). Since then I have (mostly) recovered, but experience back pain off and on - nothing like the crisis time, but enough to slow me down quite a bit for day/weeks at a time. A few weeks ago my back started doing its thing and within a few days it became clear that this was going to be a doozy. Sitting, standing, bending...hell...even BREATHING hurt. Add to it a more recently diagnosed autoimmune condition, arthritis and costchondritis (still dont know exactly what the hell THAT is...) and you got one achy, grumpy, unhappy lady. Having spent thousands over the years on fancy mattresses, mattress toppers, egg crates, memory foams, perfect pillows and all other kinds of accouterment, with a stomach, liver and kidneys showing signs of damage from all the painkillers and pills, I was at a point of desperation when I came to Amazon to see if maybe there was something else I could try. I put in 'mattress topper bad back' and several options came up. I dont know what made me choose this one - I think it was the pattern on it that I liked - but I clicked on it, and IMMEDIATELY jumped to the reviews. I saw several from others with chronic back issues swearing by it and after a few short moments of consideration I said 'f'it. I'm desperate here' and added it to the cart. It arrived several days later in a relatively small box. I unpacked it, took the plastic off and laid it out in my living room to air out. My back was a hot mess by this time so I was anxious to get this sucka goin. The next night I dragged it to my room (its not that heavy - I just was so crippled everything felt like a million pounds) and dragged that mugg onto my I-paid-$2000-but-my-back-still-hurts-mattress. I was worried my sheets wouldnt fit, but they did (they seemed to have been made to accommodate a topper, which dawned on me at that moment why they had seemed so big all this time). I took a hot shower (letting the water hit my back) loaded up on some more stomach killing ibuprofens and went it. I swear...I must have fallen alseep immediately because the last thing I remember thinking was "this feels pretty goooo......".EIGHT HOURS LATER I awaken.EIGHT FREAKIN HOURS.I havent slept 8 hours since before my son was born.Hes 23.I had slept the entire night, not only NOT waking up, tossing and turning, fighting with the 50-11 pillows of different sizes, proportions and dimensions that is play musical chairs with nightly, trying to relieve pressure off my back and other achy parts...but also not having to PEE every 2.3 hours. This damn thing stopped my midnight peeing!! Dazed and confused, not because of the lack of sleep from the night before (which is how I usually feel in the morning), but because what I realized next floored me. The back pain that had hobbled me for THREE WEEKS prior to this moment was gone.G. O. N. E.GONE.I didnt trust it, so I closed my eyes again and waited for the pain to come - figured it was being tricksy and false like Gollum said they would - so I laid there with both eyes closed, knowing it would creep up at any second.Nothing.I turned over thinking, this bastard aint foolin me today - when I hit this side position it'll come back with a vengeance.Nothing.I turned on the other side. Opened one eye to see if I could spot in coming.Nothing.After about 5 more minutes of ever increasing increments of back pain-testing movements followed by a mix of anticipation and curiosity, I sat up thinking WHAT THE F@CK JUST HAPPENED HERE? Still in disbelief, I slowly threw my legs over the side and waited. Nothing. I stood up. Nothing. I took a step. Nothing. I slowly began walking, expecting this all to be some kind of prank or joke, only to find that I made it to the bathroom (my bladder didnt know what to do with all this extra pee) and sat down, took care of business and GOT UP...with NO. FREAKIN. PAIN. I *literally* could not believe it, so I came back into my room and pulled the sheets back off this joint to see if I could spot whatever sorcery it was emitting. Didnt find any, but I what I DID have was the first day in WEEKS where I wasnt hobbling around like some 90 year old invalid. Not only was the pain gone that morning, it remained gone/manageable most of the day. By the time it was time to go in again, the pain was just beginning to return - but I wanted to test this magic to see if the kidney-killing ibuprofens are what had let to my peaceful slumber. That night, I took NOTHING. I didnt even shower. I just got in the bed and waited. Within 20 minutes I was alseep, and while not quite as unbroken as the night before (I did get up to pee once) I had 9 solid hours of sleep with little to no pain/tossing & turning. I awakened to the same no-pain morning and began my day thinking "Oh Sh!t. This thing works".Its been 2 weeks now and am happy to report that the effects have lasted. Not only am I not experiencing as much discomfort at night as I have been for YEARS, but I SWEAR this sucka calms my night time bladder. I had no idea this simple mattress topper with the nice pattern would work so well. The last week I have stopped taking the liver-destroying ibuprofens before bed. I no longer need it to get a decent, pain-free nights sleep.I can't guarantee you will have such great results, but if you are desperate and really need relief its worth the try. Had I known about this thing before, I would have saved the 2grand on the fancy-but-my-ass-hurts-all-night mattress and just bought 5 of these to sleep on.If you got $200 bucks and a deep, gnawing desire to stop rolling around your bed at night like a mad person trying to find relief, go for it. Your back, bladder, liver, kidneys and stomach just might thank you for it.I'll update in a few weeks to let yall know if this keeps up.Hope this helps.I've been using this for a little under a week now I suffered back and neck pain previously but when I say I've been getting the best sleep it's an under statement this mattress topper is really amazing !!This is the 3rd time I have bought this mattress topper, that is how good it is. My whole family now sleeps with one on their bed.The mattress pad is first rate. It is a full 3" in thickness. There is a base of 2" and then a top layer of a denser foam that is 1" thick. The pad is fully enclosed in a zippered carrier that has straps to anchor it to the bed.Now for the downside. The instructions tell you to remove the pad from the carrier, and then wait 24-48 hours for the pad to fully expand. That seems reasonable. It's also wrong. Plan on two weeks at least. I have had mine a month and it is almost through expanding. One picture here shows my pad at two weeks, the other is a couple of days after that. At that point I had to put it on the bed because it was simply in the way.After the first week I reached out to the manufacturer for expansion tips and was told to walk on it and to use a hair dryer on it. You can see what another week of that accomplished.I emailed UTTU again and they sent me another one (They also offered me a refund.). I've only had the second one a day but I can tell it's going to be just like the first one (I did not have to return the first one. UTTU sent me a warranty replacement.)In a nutshell, I like the pad, UTTU will stand behind it and send you another one or offer a refund if you want it, shipping was fast (I got one FedEx and the other USPS. USPS was the fastest.), the product features are good even if the expansion is really slow. If the pad lasts a really long time then the slow expansion will be worth while.I gave the topper four stars simply because it does not expand as stated in the advertising and instructions. I would recommend it, but with the warning statement about expansion. You could put it straight onto your bed, but you will be able to feel and see the difference on the bed.
