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When Canadian midfielder Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 was taken off the sector on a stretcher during Canada\u2019s World Cup match against Qatar on Thursday, photos showed him inhaling from a small green device, prompting many fans to wonder what it was.<\/p>\n
Team Canada officials confirmed the inhaler to be Penthrox, also often called methoxyflurane, a fast-acting, non-opioid pain medication that’s self-administered for short-term pain relief. It is usually often called the \u201cgreen whistle.\u201d<\/p>\n
One in all the drug\u2019s key features is that it\u2019s administered by the patient directly: if a patient can\u2019t hold the device themselves, the drug can\u2019t be used, said Dr. Paul Winston, a specialist in physical medicine and rehabilitation based in British Columbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good thing about Penthrox is you don\u2019t overdo it, right? So if the person finally ends up saying, \u2018Hey, I\u2019m OK,\u2019 they’ll stop puffing, or if the pain isn\u2019t controlled, then they’ve time to manage the heavier medications that they could have to do,\u201d Winston said.<\/p>\n
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Relief starts to kick in after six to 12 breaths and may last as long as an hour, requiring careful monitoring in a clinical setting, the doctor said.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like laughing gas. So people actually laugh hysterically once they\u2019re on it and it takes away their pain and it acts as a cross between an anesthetic and a painkiller,\u201d said Winston. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t knock you out, nevertheless it type of takes you out of your situation enough to place the pain aside.\u201d<\/p>\n
Penthrox was first developed as a general anesthetic in america within the Nineteen Sixties and approved by Health Canada in 2022. It has been approved in Australia and Recent Zealand for the reason that Seventies.
He said the drug is not any longer approved in america because an older version was pulled from the market there attributable to toxicity concerns. As well, Penthrox can’t be utilized in patients with liver or kidney issues, he said.<\/p>\n
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Kon\u00e9 has since undergone surgery for his broken leg and can miss the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t© 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Descrease article font size Increase article font size When Canadian midfielder Isma\u00ebl Kon\u00e9 was taken off the sector on a stretcher during Canada\u2019s World Cup match against Qatar on Thursday, photos showed him inhaling from a small green device, prompting many fans to wonder what it was. Team Canada officials confirmed the inhaler to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":355259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[338],"tags":[6333,6047,1053,667,25278,792,32433],"class_list":["post-355258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-canadian","tag-fifa","tag-green","tag-injury","tag-kone","tag-player","tag-whistle"],"aioseo_notices":[{"message":"The permalink for this post just changed! This could result in 404 errors for your site visitors.","status":"warning","options":{"id":"0a2ae5f84bc2c0423042ed7ec22d2e40","isDismissible":true,"actions":[{"url":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/wp-admin\/admin.php?page=aioseo-redirects","label":"Add Redirect to improve SEO","class":"aioseo-redirects-slug-changed"}]},"allowedContexts":["posts"]}],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t