Thanks Eriketo! I will look into these mattresses. Yes, wool is a natural fire retardant. I'm just glad the stupid regulations allow it. Wish they wouldn't allow all the thousands of chemicals! If you get the mattress (es), would you write me and let me know what it is like for you? I'll do the same. Something just tells me I wouldn't do o.k. with the Latex. I'd be fine with the wool, just don't know how comfy that would be, and I have body pain so I don't want a hard mattress.

I tried to go into a support forum here and no one had posted for a year! I'm new to this site. Do you recommend certain forums or discussion groups? I've been sick for so long that I'm not looking for a lot of sharing about what it is like to have this damn illness, but I want to stay informed on what is happening in the MCS world - especially politically, if anything IS happening. I'm assuming that the AMA still does not consider MCS a bonafide disability? Do the CDC? I"m working part time at a library and live in fear that any day I could lose my job because of new carpet or some other "surprise". I live in Boise, Id so there is VERY little awareness of MCS here and no support or information groups. Anyway, if you have a favorite informational forum, I'd love to know about it - on any site.

Thank you!
Kimberly

What I have come to understand with buying mattresses is be very careful in making sure the wool mattresses are truly 100% organic wool because non-organic wool has been regularly dipped and the residue from these sheep dipping pesticide chemicals will be present for a long time. I had bought a futon mattress that was advertised organic and chemical free yet it made me sick being in the room for a few hours. I tried airing it out for weeks to mo avail. Sold it to a friend for half the price. It ended up being normal wool with a supposedly chemical free cotton cover.
I would personally avoid anything with latex....here is a explaination from a bed company here in U.K:

"Organic latex

Yet again there is another marketing spin on latex with the ‘organic’ label piggybacking off the natural latex term. We would provide the following guidance when dealing with organic labels on Latex. We have yet to find any difference in material between 100% natural latex and organic latex. It is just a marketing tool to confuse and widen the market.

We have already discussed how 100% natural latex is in reality 90-96% natural as other components are required. In the UK organic usually refers to pesticide free but again we have yet to find a supplier of latex that will state this claim. We only refer to our latex as 100% natural and won’t use the organic label due to the confusion it brings. Organic latex is largely used as a description in the American bed market"

I bought a used natural supposedly chemical free latex mattress. (was only a few weeks old, now I know why he sold it) I paid £90 for it off ebay so not much lost (original price he paid was £1,200) and I did put it in spare bedroom for 4 years trying to air it to no avail. Smell was unbearable, even if you put tons of blankets over it within a day all the blankets smelled like it.
I ended up buying a used organic mattress (supposedly) that was 4 years old and then steam cleaned it and thats what wifey uses. I cant sleep on it 5 years later but I can sleep in the same room as it. I am on a very old small piece of foam sponge that came out of a very old camper van from the 80's.

Hi guys I was looking for a mattress for a really long time, and I'm really thankful that you have helped, hope to be helpful for you too

Back to report that we bought a mattress from mygreenmattress, the pure echo model. Ordered it one day before skyward posted warning against non-organic wool, and had to pray it'd be okay. This one claims organic cotton but not organic wool and it has no latex like the upgraded model. Now 2 weeks sleeping on it. Had a smell but not a chemical smell. Very firm (some might say "hard") which is okay for me but we may have to top it with something on my wife's side and I'm sure it'd be too hard for someone with fibromyalgia.
Glad to be rid of the memory foam mattress which was making us all sick. The smell effected me the same way solvents and nail polish do...instant neurological disaster. So when the brain fog cleared enough, I researched to see if memory foam off-gassed the same chems. Sure enough! Toluene and acetone in addition to the others that everyone talks about!
So, I'm liking the mygreenmattress and feeling quite a bit better. Need to get rid of the memory foam mattress in my kid's room as soon as we can afford to (although that one never had as strong an odor as the other). I am using houseplants to metabolize the residual gases.
My memory foam mattresses, which claim to be infused with green tea (ha ha, what a scam!) and which carry a meaningless certification from the foam industry, were purchased based on the fact that one of the self-proclaimed Non-Toxic Guru ladies had them at the bottom of her recommendations for non-toxic mattresses. Her top two recommedations were very expensive organic mattresses and, I imagine, she wasn't getting enough click-through money and thought she should offer something for people who aren't wealthy, says :"These would be a good choice for people on a budget" and put an amaz0n click-through. Had to say because if it saves one person from going through what I've been going through for the past 3 months, it'll be worth it.
Peace.

I use a barrier cloth from janices.com.
it covers the whole mattress top & sides. Janice's has a lot of good stuff for MCS people. Their sheets & pillow cases have some chemical in them that really bothered me though. Also the organic pillows became funky after a while. I do not use pillows anymore I feel much better not using pillows.

Hi Erik! Things still working out with the mattress? Something is weird with my view of this thread. I can't see your last entry or the entry of the person who talked about Janice's. I wanted to thank him. Oh well. Sleep like a baby!