Lidocaine infusion

What is a Lidocaine infusion?

Lidocaine is a numbing medicine similar to the local anaesthetic that the dentists use to numb the gums. It works by calming and quietening nerves which are firing messages when they should not be, thereby reducing your pain. The medicine is administered directly into the vein.

Benefits

Some patients will experience good pain relief from the procedure. Although it is mainly used for certain types of nerve pain, occasionally if the site of pain is not amenable for any targeted injection therapy, lidocaine infusion may be used.

Risks

Lidocaine is a relatively safe drug when given at a carefully calculated dose (which will be based on your weight & other medical conditions). However, no procedure is totally risk free.

Short term side effects may include numbness around your mouth, dizziness and nausea. These effects often settle once the infusion is reduced or stopped.

Lidocaine can cause short term changes to the blood pressure & heart rate. Hence, during the treatment, your blood pressure & heart rate will be closely monitored.

Rarely patients may be allergic to Lidocaine. In rare cases the injection can cause seizures or fitting which would require the procedure to be stopped and anti-fitting drugs to be given. Occasionally patients report worsening of symptoms following the treatment.

Before the procedure

You will have the treatment as a day-case procedure i.e. you will not require overnight hospital admission.

You should stop eating 4 hours before the planned treatment time; you can have water up to 1 hour before the treatment.

You should arrange for someone to drive you home after your injection.

Your stay in hospital will be for one to two hours.

Please bring a list of your current medications with you.

Your doctor will discuss the procedure with you and will take your consent

If there is any possibility that you may be pregnant, please inform the doctor.

The procedure

You will be asked to lie on a trolley.

You will have your blood pressure and pulse taken at regular intervals during the procedure.

An intravenous cannula (a small plastic tube, sometimes referred to as a drip) will be inserted into a vein, usually in the back of the hand. This will be secured by a dressing.

An infusion will be prepared by the doctor. This will be given to you through the cannula.

The infusion will take up to one hour to complete.

Following the procedure

After the procedure the staff will observe you until you are stable & fit enough to go home.

Before you go leave the intravenous cannula will be removed and a small dressing applied to the insertion site. This can be removed later in the day at home.

Please be careful when you first get off the trolley – ensure you are steady on your feet.

Avoid driving or operating heavy machinery that day. No need for complete bed rest.

Take your regular medications. Doctor may advice you if the doses of the pain killers require any change.

You can resume your normal routine from the next day onwards.

A letter will be sent to your GP describing what you underwent.

Depending on how you responded to the infusion, how long the pain relief lasted, increase in the physical activity level, successful reduction in taking other pain pills etc. a decision to repeat the infusion in the future will be made.