#migrain

🇲🇦Monday, July 21, 2025: So here we are, the day after my visit to the emergency room. Unfortunately, I woke up with the headache still very much present…

But good news: I finally found a place to rent oxygen tanks! Of course, it’s not free here : €50 per tank with a high-concentration mask. Thankfully, it will last me long enough until I return to France, so that’s fine!

Just to clarify in relation to my previous post: they obviously didn’t charge me anything since they didn’t do anything.

So now I have this oxygen tank, but it’s different from the ones I usually use. It’s the same oxygen molecule, of course, but the system here is much less precise, older, and the tank is heavier even though it contains less oxygen than my 15L tanks in France which are the same size.

Here, there’s an integrated humidification system that’s supposed to prevent nasal and throat dryness during prolonged use (over 1 hour), especially with a high flow rate like mine. But in my case, that’s not necessary at all since my prescription is only for 30 minutes per session.

In France, the equipment I use is easier to maintain and poses no contamination risk from a humidifier, since the entire system is more modern. And luckily, I already had some sterile water to fill the reservoir!

Another downside: the flow rate is limited to 9 L/min, whereas my prescription is 12 L/min. And with each use, the flow becomes less and less accurate (as I’m writing this, it doesn’t even go above 3 L/min anymore…).

So to get the same effect, I have to do much longer sessions than the usual 30 minutes…

But at least it did relieve the migraine, even though it hadn’t completely gone away. It was still fragile, and the slightest effort could bring it back in a really unbearable way.

In the end, the crisis completely disappeared after two and a half days!

It’s crazy how much of a difference I feel in my symptoms when I’m able to do my oxygen sessions versus when I don’t have access to them.

Even though the flow rate was too low, it still had some effect. But once again, these tanks are much less convenient.

M: Media Language: basically, what you see on the page/screen. If there’s photos/videos, what kind of shots are being used? As well as what is shown, what is not shown? Has anything been deliberately omitted? I: Institution: Who made this? What company is behind the production of this piece of media. How does that effect the overall piece? G: Genre: What is the genre and how does that affect it? R: Representation: What people/groups are in this piece and how are they being represented? If it’s a news article is it fair representation or biased? A: Audience: Who was this made for? How has that effected the way it was made? I: Ideologies and Values: What is this piece of media saying? Is it taking a moral stance? Is this tied to the Institution behind it? N: Narrative: What’s the story being told? Simple as that.

Basically, Critical Thinking is very important and in my experience it’s only taught in a few school subjects, so you can use this as a basic guide to think about whenever you’re consuming media. 👍