To help make my treatment easier

What does MEOPA gas do?

MEOPA gas is an equal mixture of two gases – Nitrogen and Oxygen

It helps me feel more relaxed during treatment

and to feel less pain.

What is MEOPA gas?

It’s a gas that I breathe a mask.

I breathe it in through a mask.

The mask is connected to the balloon which is connected to the gas cylinder by the hose.

There are different sorts of mask.

• Some cover my nose and mouth.
• Some only cover my nose.

What happens?

The nurse gives me a mask.

I can ask someone to hold it for me.

Sometimes, I can choose a flavour.

I breathe normally through the mask.

I keep breathing the gas all through the treatment.

The balloon inflates and deflates.

I can hear the gas – it makes a hissing sound!

I can see the people around me and I hear them talking.

They might sound quite loud.

I can talk.

With MEOPA gas I might have some unusual feelings:

• Pins and needles.
• I might want to laugh!
• My ears might hurt.
• I might feel sick.
• It might feel like I’m dreaming.

When the treatment is over

I take off the mask.

After MEOPA gas I might fall asleep.

Then everything goes back to normal.

SantéBD is free :

• On the internet www.santebd.org
• On the SantéBD Channel Youtube

SantéBD is designed for everybody.

SantéBD‘s communications tools are developed by the Coactis Santé foundation which bring together a wide range of actors from the worlds of charities, hospitals and healthcare.

They work together to build tools to make sure they are accessible to all.

contact@santebd.org – www.santebd.org

All right to reproduction, representation and modification are reserved in any format worldwide. Any use for purposes other than education and information, and any commercial use is prohibited.

Copyright Coactis Santé

Illustrations by Frédérique Mercier.

This fact-sheet was made possible with support from:

• la Fondation Handicap Malakoff Humanis
• l’Assurance maladie
• la mairie de Paris
• la Caisse nationale de solidarité pour l’autonomie
• Santé publique France

This document was proofread by people with learning disabilities and respects the European Easy-to-Read Guidelines. These guidelines help to make information available for everyone.

For more information visit the website https://www.inclusion-europe.eu/easy-to-read/