Im 21 years old and have had back pain everyday of my life since I was little. Ive learned to ignore it over the years but its been getting worse. I went to the back doctor and was given an x ray but she said everything was fine and gave me this book of exercises to do. Ive been doing them but they dont help. Im thinking of trying to get an MRI but im a poor student with no insurance so im not to sure how much they cost. Im now looking into buying a tempur pedic or a sleep number bed(through financing) in hopes of that helping. Whats a good bed for lower back pain and also most of the sleep number beds have pillow tops but I thought pillow tops were bad for your back?

I actually got an adjustable bed. I always thought of them for older people but it does help. Tried the sleep number bed and did not like it. I need my head elevated.

tempur

hi there, I got a good bed last year, everything was fine then it start to make my back sore, turned the mattress, turned again few weeks more turned again...... this goes on about every 2-3 weeks it is a pain, not for me but for my husband as it is very hard to turn on your own. Anyway my point being, I got the mattress replaced, and checked, still the same. I think it is what is comfortable for you and you have to go and lye on it and lye on it for awhile. The shop thought I was there for the day !! but you really do. I tried the tempur ones and I could not get out of it. I was stuck, I felt it just swallowed me, and I made myself sorer trying to get out of it. Now some people just swear by them, old people find them hard to get out of aswell, as the lady in the shop told me, as she looked as if to say what is your problem.

Shop around and you really do have to test them out and I found out aswell I you have someone in the bed with you, they should lye on it to, it gives a different feel to it.
Dont know if this helps
Round 1

I hate to say this, but I don't want to see you lay out a lot of money for a bed that might not help. If you have a back problem, I think the money would be better spent having an MRI done to find out what is going on. Lots to think about I know. On the other hand, if you see a dr. now for your back and you don't have ins, when you do try to get ins it could be called a "pre-existing condition". Is there any way you could take out a small policy of some kind? I think that should be your main goal right now so that if you do have problems, you'll have coverage and can't be denied in the future.

Carol

I agree with Carol... I have a regular bed, but I bouth a nice foam and put it on a top of my matrass and the sheets over it. Helps me.
Sweetie, I know how expensive treatments and tests are, but you are only 21 and suffer all your life not knowing what this is??? So what will happen when you get older? If you have this for so many years, it means something is wrong in there and needs to be checked.
Can I ask you: if you can't afford it and you are a student, do you think you can apply for financial Aid or Medicaid at least until you finish school?
Has to be something out there for you. Don't ignore it, please!
MRI is costly of course, but expensive bed can cost as much if not more. Can you get this done and than pay them monthly whatever you will be able to afford? If you have a spinal problem, good bed will not resolve it, sorry.

Best of luck to you, my heart goes out to you...

Hi, I also agree, that you might want to wait before shelling out all that dough for an expensive bed. I did that very same thing, twice even, before I ever knew what was wrong with me. I thought for sure it was my mattressess, I ended up buying 2 different new ones and it never helped. I actually wasted a ton of money trying everything under the sun that I could buy to make my back feel better. I even stuck those magnets all over my back LOLOL but I was desperate. Also, my pain was just getting worse over time and I had an X-ray, which only showed mild scoliosis and some bone spurs on the outer areas of my vertebrae. It didnt show any cause for my pain either. Finally when I did have an MRI about 6 monhts later, it showed all sorts of things wrong. Not to scare you by this, but x-rays basically just show the bones, fractures, scoliosis, things like that. If you have disc problems, or cysts, or muscle problems, nerve impingement, things like that....an MRI would be best. Ive had severe pain in an ankle for 18 yrs, had some xrays here & there which also showed nothing. This yr had another xray which said my foot was normal...HA!!!!!!! Finally had an MRI for that too, and my foot/ankle is so bad & arthritic that my podiatrist said surgery would probably make things worse for me.

So how many yrs has your pain been going on? Were you never checked out when you were younger? Or did you not want to say anything about it?
Usually kids and young people don't tend to really get back problems, though it does happen. WHere in your back do you hurt? And do you have any other kinds of symptoms at all? (even if you think it might not be back related)