It's a little round tub. the front label says LIDOCAINE OINTMENT (and the word ointment) is circled. It then says USP. Upper right to that it says 50g
Underneath the word Ointment it says 5% (Spearmint flavored)
under that it says: FOR TOPICAL USE ONLY - NOT FOR OPTHALMIC USE
Underneath all this it says:

For Health Professional /Institutional Use only. Not for household use.

bottom right it says Rx only

It's made by Taro Pharmaceuticals

since this is a little round tub, on the other side is the Pharmacy name on the label. Directions say "Apply to affected areas twice a day"

Lidocaine 5% OINTMENT.

Now when Alan brought home the tub I opened it (thinking it should be sealed (as all meds are, right?) Well the cap just unscrewed and there was no seal, just the ointment. It's not a gel by the way.

Since I did not know if it's supposed to come this way, I immediately phoned the pharmacy asking "I don't mean to sound picky, but since I no nothing about this product, is it supposed to be sealed, and the doctor originally wrote 90 grams of lidocaine cream, and this is 50 g".

I know this pharmacist for over 10 years so he's trustworthy. He said "Melody, this doesn't come in a cream and the ointment tub has 50g, and it's supposed to come this way".

So I said "Oh, okay", and that was that".

The really odd thing is that since I know that some people do the compound thing, I just took my morning walk and went to Walgreens since I was under the impression that Walgreens is a compound pharmacy. I asked her about the Lidocaine ointment saying "I just heard that this just came out" and I said "what do you mean this just came out, I know about the Lidoderm patches but I never knew it came in an ointment, my husband has neuropathy and no one told us it came in an ointment". And she said the following:

"Oh, it's not really prescribed for Neuropathy" and I said "why on earth not?" and she said "Well, nerve medication is prescribed for neuropathy first".

I said "Nerve medication, WHAT NERVE MEDICATION?" then I said "Oh, you're talking about anti-seizure meds??" and she said "well, we call them nerve medication now". So I said "and what if they don't work (like in Alan's case), and she just shrugged and then she said:

"You have to be very careful about using the ointment, don't use too much because of the side effects". I said "what side effects?:" and she says: "It can affect the heart". Then she said; "Tell your husband not to put it on the whole foot, just the area where he gets the zips and zaps" I said "does it come in a cream?" and she says "the tube is a gel and it is 2% lidocaine".

Last night, Alan took a bit and mixed it with his healthifeet cream, and applied it (I have no idea where because I went to sleep before he did). He goes to sleep at 6 a.m. and wakes at 1:30 p.m. saying "he sleeps better during the day".

When he wakes up, I'll be sure and explain the whole "use a little bit and use it only on the area that zips and zaps".

So I gather if he takes a bit of the lidocaine ointment and mixes it with his Healthifeet cream and just applies it to the area by the toes that are affected, and if it works, then this at least should give him some peace right?

Oh, and Dr. Fred told Alan. "Are you taking Alpha Lipoic Acid"? and Alan said "Are you kidding, Melody has me on B-12, Alpha this, etc. He laughed.

So is this tub of lidocaine ointment a compound or does it come in a big vat and they just scoop it in a tub and put the label on it? I have no idea.

And before I forget, Alan used to use the Lidoderm patches. They did provide some relief at first (12 hours on, and 12 hours off), and he used to cut them into strips and place each strip around each toe, but after a long while, he stopped using them saying "they don't do anything". So I just used them for my sciactica when it flared up.
Melody