For me, I have an unrelated sleep disorder that makes sleep extremely important, and sensory issues that made sleeping with CPAP difficult to impossible. I tried lots of kinds of masks at my expense, but got no material support from the providers involved. After many months of trying I found that I have far better sleep without it, and got sick less frequently as well. I cleaned it fastidious and fiddled with it regularly but couldn’t find a sustainable way forward with it.

The mechanical sound of breathing, the mask getting stuck in my long hair, the intentions posture and breathing form… and dear mercy the pooling moisture on my face.

I shaved a sick beard for it. I stopped sleeping with my partner. It was a saga that I had tried a decade earlier with the same outcome.

Ultimately it turned out that simply staying hydrated and adding a little incline to my mattress is all it took. My O2 concentration has held steady and the snoring has stopped. I’ve taken my alcohol consumption down to near zero, and I have to imagine that helped as well. My weight and body fat have been pretty stable throughout.

I’ve kept my gear in case I have an occasion to try it again. Also they wouldn’t take it back and have got legislation passed to ban CPAP resale. Maybe one day I’ll get around to hacking on an IoT smell-o-vision project and have a decent use for the thing.