Posted by Tom on February 20, 1999 at 19:00:03:
In Reply to: Proper useage of Afrin and Lidocaine posted by Kelly G. on February 20, 1999 at 11:06:46:
Kelly,
You really should have gotten better instructions from both the Doc and Pharmacist. Maybe they were unfamiliar with this use? Anyway, how you use it depends on the type...liquid or viscious. With the viscious (kinda thick) stuff I have to use a syringe (NO needle, like you use to give a baby medicine) and shoot it up my nose while laying on back, head tilted toward pain side. The liquid (if you could suck it up with a visine bottle it was probably liquid) I just shoot up my nose with my head tilted back (still use the syringe but 'cause I'm used to it). I didn't like the eye- dropper because I couldn't really control how much went in.
How much is too much and how long to wait? A little too much gives me the feeling of trying to swallow a baseball. Too many or too much causes some nausea, I think because the whole esophagus and stomach opening are numbed by the excess running down my throat. If parts of my sinuses and upper throat are numb (a little of the baseball swallowing sensation) then the lidocaine is working, by then it is also helping me. But everyone is different. Just like when leaving the dentist, the numbing lasts a long time and I have no idea if additional "snorts" fairly close together would do any good. I have used it several times a day when the headaches just keep coming back and back and back though with no ill effects.
Hope this helps, hope you find what helps you.
Tom