G'day tstiefler3. Welcome to Apnea Board.
Judging from the tone of your post, it seems you're not getting any support from your doctor or respiratory therapist. That's not unusual, and it's the main reason that forums like Apnea Board exist. Hopefully we'll be able to help you take control and get some real benefit from your machine. But first we need some data to work with. Apnea therapy is all about the numbers, and once the numbers are under control we can work on how you feel.
So, the first thing we need is a copy of your sleep study. Please erase any personally identifying information (full name, address, phone number, Medicare number etc) and post the report here. We need to see the full report including charts and tables, not just the written summary. Also if you have a prescription please post that as well.
Next we need to know how well your machine is currently working. For this we use software called
OSCAR.
Get
OSCAR:
https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
OSCAR help:
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...OSCAR_Help
How to organise and post
OSCAR charts:
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization
Turning now to your questions:
1) Do I have to replace my mask, tubes, etc.? It's too early to say - let's see the
OSCAR data and we'll be able to give you more detailed advice.
2) How long should I give it before giving up? Never give up. If you really do have apnea then CPAP is the gold standard treatment. Apnea is an insidious disease which creeps up on your body ad is associated with all sorts of nasty things including diabetes, heart conditions, poor mental health, and death through falling asleep at the wheel.
3) Are there optimal pressure settings I should try? Or humidifier settings? Anything I should play with to experiment? Your prescription should have given you some good starting pressures. Once we see the Oscar data we'll be able to help you optimise them.
4) Is it possible that CPAP machines just won't work for me? Yes, it's possible. It's also possible you were misdiagnosed or you have other conditions alongside the apnea. So that's why we need to see the sleep study report.
5) Is there a way that I can measure the quality of my sleep to know if the CPAP is making a difference? Like something that measures REM and deep sleep? Again, Oscar will give us a very detailed view of your breathing and (from the breath patterns) a bit of indication of your sleep stages. Some of the better class smart watches can give an indication and there is a gadget called Dreem Headband which does a mini-EEG while you sleep. You could invest in one or all of these, but I suggest you stick with what you've got and see how things develop.
Best regards, and good luck!