Has anyone tried these (lidocaine patches)? Breathing has been painful all week and I was also experiencing sharp pains in my back of my shoulder. I finally went to talk to the anesthesiologist at the hospital where I work and he gave me a prescription for the Lidoderm patches. Last night I cut one patch in two: one above my collar bone and the other around the scapular area and then went to bed. Woke up almost pain free! Even the nerve pain in my arm was significantly decreased. I am used to the arm pain was but was not prepared for the chest pain to hurt that bad.