Non Opioid Treatment for Experimental Dyspnea
Non Opioid Treatment for Experimental Dyspnea
The purpose of this protocol is to test the effects of the non opioid nefopam on experimental
 dyspnea and on the counterirritation (ie inhibition of one pain by another pain) induced by
 dyspnea in healthy subjects.
Dyspnea and pain share many features. One of them is the counterirritation phenomenon:
 defined in pain research as the attenuation of one pain by another pain. Dyspnea induced with
 inspiratory threshold loading (increased sense of work/effort ) has been shown to attenuate
 electrical pain as shown through nociceptive flexion reflex inhibition, or thermal pain, as
 measured with cortical evoked responses (laser evoked potentials-LEP).

 The investigators will study whether nefopam modulates the counterirritation of laboratory
 induced dyspnea in healthy subjects. The effect of nefopam on experimental dyspnea will be
 measured with a visual analog scale (VAS) and a validated multidimensional dyspnea profile
 (MDP). The effect of treatment on counterirritation will be measured by recording LEP
 obtained using a CO2 laser system. The amplitude of the N2-P2 component of the LEP is the
 main study outcome.
Inclusion Criteria:

 -  Healthy

 -  Non-smoking

 Exclusion Criteria:

 -  acute or chronic pain

 -  antalgic or psychoactive drugs use

 -  nefopam hypersensibility

 -  severe allergy

 -  diabetes

 -  glaucoma

 -  prostate adenoma

 -  seizure disorder or convulsion history

 -  heart or circulation disease

 -  pulmonary disease or asthma

 -  kidney or liver disease

 -  brain or nerve disease

 -  lack of adhesion to no antalgic drug, alcohol, coffee and cola within previous
 experiment day consumption