Funny story. Actually not very funny for me!
A friend was enthusiastically telling us about the new foam mattress topper she had just purchased at one of the warehouse stores. We happened to be in that store a few days later and decided to buy a king sized topper for our bed at home. We put it on the bed, and I was expecting the best night's sleep of my life. Wrong - so very, very wrong!!!
When I woke up the next morning I could not move. My back was literally in knots and spasms. I gingerly crawled out of bed, hoping it was just a temporary thing. It turned out to be not so temporary, as the back pain continued into the afternoon. Luckily my neighbor is a chiropractor, and came over and gave me a massage and adjustment on the large toolbench in the basement. I felt better right away. The chiropractor said this type of event was pretty common with people changing mattresses. (If this was truly the case, there would be very few new mattresses sold!)
I would not take the chance and sleep on it again. My wife thought I was crazy, and wanted to leave the topper on the bed. I said fine, and then proceeded to then cut the thing in half with a big scissors (the heck with the $150). Of course this made a rather large "mountain and valley" on the bed, but she said she liked it; but I was afraid to sleep on it a second time, so the only compromise I could see at the time was the scissors! She must not have liked it that much, because it disappeared a few days later.
Moral of the story - "Different strokes for different folks" - mattresses are a very individual thing. Most people like a nice thick and soft mattress to sleep on - but not me, as I learned.
PS: We tried other and thinner "toppers" in the TM, and I didn't like them much better; and no, we could not close the shells with the topper on the bed. I'm no doubt weird, but I find the mattresses in the TM quite comortable as they are. Good sleeping to all.
Sorry this was so long.
Nick