Trust me; I've tried all of the remedies and solutions. Only a really good fit seems to help a little bit, but not completely. Better fitting N95 or FFP2 masks may bring some relieve, but they're relatively expensive and barely available in supermarkets as it is. There is also the feeling that it seems statistically pointless to wear these as long as the majority of people use surgical masks; many not even bothering to cover their noses.

I don't know why, but while I can wear a mask for up to half an hour, anything beyond that becomes torture (doubly so when you are travelling with a toddler who needs you as a parent, which means talking through a mask increasing the out-of-breath feeling). This has made travelling longer distances fairly impossible for me, which again adds to the 'so fucking done' feeling that is gaining the upper hand.