Hi Julie,

Sounds like you are having a peripheral nerve block. Those can be done with lidocaine which will simply numb the nerve or with lido and steroid which will numb it AND calm it down for a while. If going to the trouble of getting one I'd go for the steroid mixed in myself. That is likely what they are doing.

I read an article that came out in the last year by a group of Physical Medicine doctors who advocated for the use of peripheral nerve blocks as a frontline treatment for CRPS. Calming the nerve at the source may help.

I hope you have a good procedure and stellar results.