sorry didnt mean to make a blank post. I was wondering if anyone has ever used a gel mattress pad to prevent bed sores. we have an inflatable one now, but it just isnt working. i was thinking if they gel one didnt work, maybe a temperpedic one might work. any advice would be appreciated. thank you.

Hi Sarah,

The only issue with a Tempur-Ppedic is it does not breath well. It retains heat badly so it can cause body aches. I know because I bought one. Very comfortable and probably good to prevent bed sores but not good on arthritis or joint issues. Makes the joints ache. The answer is to add a good thick cotton terry cloth mattress pad over it.

Hopefully others will respond with more advice.

Hugs,
Sandy

Sarah,

My husband was discharged from the hospital (with two bedsores) and an order for an air mattress, then the medical supply company told me it would be $83.00 per month to rent! yikes. So I asked for something cheaper and they sent a "Drive" gel mattress overlay which attaches to the regular mattress. We used this two years, no new bed sores! Finally, the gel started leaking and we just got a new Solace gel overlay by Invacare. My husband likes the Solace better, more comfortable, softer, he says. And no bedsores this whole time! We paid about $35.00 copay with his insurance. He had an air mattress in the hospital and had two bedsores with that.

I do recommend looking at the Invacare Solace gel overlay.

Hope this helps! Good luck.

It was first recommended my wife use an air mattress when she first became bed ridden, but she found it very uncomfortable and we quit using it. We ended up using a foam overlay mattress with good success until she went into the nursing home. At the nursing home, they only used gel mattress pads for bed ridden patients. I was told they no longer used air mattresses because the gel mattress did the job of reducing bed sores. My wife was confined to her bed for about 5 months before she passed on, and had no open bed sores during that time. From this experience, I would highly recommend the gel mattress pad over an air mattress pad.

As Sandy pointed out, the temperpedic pad/mattress doesn't breath well and holds considerable body heat.

Hugs, Dan

I talked to the hospice nurse and she said that it would be worse and cause more pressure points, but i have only heard good things about it. The woman who bathes her recommended it. My grandfather decided against it because of what the nurse said. She said that it was ultimately up to us. Maybe i can talk my grandpa into using it. if anything, if it doesn't do as well as the air pad then we can always put it back. thanks guys. :)

oh and we already have the gel mattress pad. but my grandpa thinks that whatever the nurse says is what we should do. she doesn't look comfortable at all on the air mattress either.