I get lidocaine infusions once a month. For me it helps with the allodynia, burning, and overall pain. It allows the medications that I'm on to work better and I've been able to cut down recently.

At the pain clinic that I have my treatments they take me into the treatment area, start an IV and monitor my blood pressure every 5 minutes. The lidocaine infusion takes 30 minutes and they monitor me for another 30 minutes afterwards. I feel a little "drunk" and sleepy during the proceedure- nothing bad. My speech gets slurred as the proceedure goes along which is funny. They can slow the infusion down if the side effects are bothering you, but the faster it goes in the better it works (at least that's what my doc told me). He said they try to only slow it down if it is causing issues with your vital signs. I don't find the side effects bothersome at all. They wear off pretty quickly once the infusion is done.

The pain clinic that I go to (attached to a large teaching hospital) is the only one that does lidocaine in this area. The other two pain docs that I have seen said it's "old fashioned." It has helped me, so I still do it- old fashioned or not. The combination of Calamar and lidocaine has really made a difference in my quality of life.

As far as not getting ketamine because a history of depression, they use ketamine infusions as a treatment for depression. There's a large study going on now comparing inpatient vs. outpatient ketamine treatment for depression.