1. Pain, Pain Go Away
Lidocaine is a local anesthetic, meaning that it has a numbing effect on the injection area. It treats severe joint pain caused by different types of arthritis, including osteoarthritis. To do this, your doctor will inject a dose of lidocaine directly into the joint affected by arthritis. In addition to treating joint pain, lidocaine treats irregular heartbeats and seizures that are resistant to other treatments. Lidocaine can also numb an area of the body during surgery or stitch a bad cut.
2. Be on the Look Out
Lidocaine injections can cause side effects that vary from person to person. Report any side effects noticed after getting a dose of lidocaine to your doctor immediately. The most common side effects are nausea, dizziness, pain where you got the injection, confusion, sleepiness and ringing in your ears. In addition to these common side effects, you have to be on the look out for signs of an allergic reaction. Trouble breathing, a rash or itching are signs of an allergic reaction.
3. What Your Doctor Needs to Know
People who have had problems with anesthesia in the past should let their doctor know about the problems before taking a lidocaine injection. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid lidocaine injections when possible. In addition, if you have had heart problems, lung problems or liver disease, you should let your doctor know about your condition before taking lidocaine. Certain drugs, such as cimetidine, which treats irregular heartbeat, beta-blockers, mental health medications and migraine medications, may interact with lidocaine injections. Make sure that you let the doctor know about any medication, including over the counter medicine, that you are taking so that you can be sure that you can avoid an unwanted interaction.
4. Do it Yourself Precautions
In some cases, your doctor may prescribe home injections of lidocaine. If this is how you take lidocaine injections, you should be on the look out for signs of overdosing on lidocaine. This can happen inadvertently sometimes. The signs of an overdose of lidocaine are heart attack-like symptoms such as chest pain. Thoroughly clean the injection area and use a sterile needle for each injection. Be careful not to do anything to hurt the area of the injection. It will be numb so you may not notice the injury.
5. Testing With Lidocaine
Any medical tests, such as blood work or heart monitoring, can affect lidocaine injections. Make sure that you let all health care professionals who perform medical tests on you that you are taking lidocaine injections. In some cases, lidocaine injections may make test results indicate a problem when there in no problem or they can cause a problem to hide.
