Well the patches work hands down so testimonials from all of us ...you could take that to your Doctor...hmmm lets see what else....the fact that you may end up taking less medication by mouth to deal with increased pain......you can go about your day with less of a stabbing in your back and your neck can all be more relaxed.....

You need good medical articles to take to this doctor and tell him/her that these patches DO work and work WELL!!! not sure on the literature.....

1: Br J Anaesth. 2007 Feb;98(2):261-2.
Management of complex regional pain syndrome type II using lidoderm 5% patches.

Karmarkar A, Lieberman I.
Department of Anaesthetics, Hope Hospital, Salford M6 8HD, UK. acarrom@yahoo.co.uk
We report a case of a patient developing complex regional pain syndrome of the upper limb after a laceration injury with glass. The pain in his hand was resistant to all conventional modes of treatment. The pain reduced dramatically after a diagnostic lidocaine infusion and the reduction in pain lasted for 3 days. Following this the patient responded well to lidoderm 5% patches and achieved 80% pain relief with an improved range of movement in his hand.

1: Pain Med. 2002 Dec;3(4):361-5.Links
Use of lidocaine patch 5% for chronic low back pain: a report of four cases.

Hines R, Keaney D, Moskowitz MH, Prakken S.
Bay Area Pain Medical Associates, Mill Valley, California 94941, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To describe the use of the lidocaine patch 5% (Lidoderm), a targeted peripheral analgesic, in treatment of patients with chronic low back pain. DESIGN: This retrospective case series examines four patients with pain secondary to spinal degeneration and complications from failed back surgery syndrome, who were prescribed the lidocaine patch as an add-on to their analgesic regimen. SETTING: Bay Area Pain Medical Associates, Mill Valley, California. PATIENTS: Patients (age range: 33-64 years) were all complicated cases in which multiple analgesics had been prescribed with varying degrees of success. Intervention. Lidocaine patch 5%. RESULTS: The addition of the lidocaine patch helped relieve varying characteristics of pain, including general pain, shooting pain, burning pain, and allodynia, and had a significant impact on the quality of life of all patients. Some patients were able to reduce or altogether stop some medications. No adverse events were reported from the lidocaine patch. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our experience with the four cases presented here and with other patients in our clinic, we believe that addition of the lidocaine patch 5% to the analgesic regimen in chronic low back pain may be beneficial. Prospective, controlled clinical trials are planned to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of the lidocaine patch for treatment of chronic low back pain with or without a neuropathic component.

1: Drugs. 2004;64(9):937-47.Links
Review of lidocaine patch 5% studies in the treatment of postherpetic neuralgia.

Davies PS, Galer BS.
Department of Neurology, Seattle Veterans' Medical Center, Seattle, Washington, USA.
Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a chronic pain syndrome that disproportionately affects the elderly; its incidence is anticipated to increase as the population ages. PHN presents as pain (continuous burning or intense paroxysmal), most often with tactile allodynia, which may be severe and disabling, resulting in poor quality of life and depression. Traditional treatments have included tricyclic antidepressants, anticonvulsants and opioids; however, adverse systemic effects associated with these agents have led to the development of a newer and potentially safer agent, the topical lidocaine patch 5% (Lidoderm), a targeted peripheral analgesic.This article reviews the clinical pharmacology of the lidocaine patch 5% for the treatment of PHN and summarises data from clinical trials of its safety, tolerability and efficacy. The Medline search terms "lidocaine" and "patch" were used to search for English-language articles on the pharmacokinetics of the lidocaine patch 5% and its clinical use for the treatment of PHN. Additional published studies not identified by the database search but performed by the authors or their colleagues were also included in the review.The systemic absorption of lidocaine from the patch was minimal in healthy adults when four patches were applied for up to 24 hours/day, and lidocaine absorption was even lower among PHN patients than healthy adults at the currently recommended dose. Vehicle-controlled and open-label trials found the lidocaine patch 5%, either alone or in combination with other agents, to be effective in the treatment of PHN. Most adverse events were at patch application sites; no clinically significant systemic adverse effects were noted, including when used long term or in an elderly population.In patients with PHN, the lidocaine patch 5% has demonstrated relief of pain and tactile allodynia with a minimal risk of systemic adverse effects or drug-drug interactions. Because of its proven efficacy and safety profile, the lidocaine patch 5% has been recommended as a first-line therapy for the treatment of the neuropathic pain of PHN.


Maybe some of that will help???
take care,
love and hugs,
Victoria

I just asked. I explained to my doc that by numbing the area with the patches i can actually get away with taking less pain pills during the day. she liked that idea!

It seems to be that patches would be so much better for your body in the long run... esp if you can reduce the pills needed.

hey
guess I overshot that one!!! I missed the obvious!!! It does for SURE decrease my pain pill intake unless I do silly things like unload the washer and do more laundry....or scrapbook or you know.....try having a life!!!!

Bottom line....they work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In fact I put one on 1hr ago to help me sleep well!!

Love and hugs,
Victoria

Cyndy,
You've had the rib resections done, right? and you still have this much pain? I'm in a lot of pain, too.

No rib resection here. Bilateral costaclavicular decompression along with ulnar nerve decompression & right CTR. Dr. J says the surgeon did take 1 scalene out & resected another on the right side.

Do u see how much you r needed & APPRECIATED with ur expertese in researching for others?

in the past when Lidoderm was new... this doctor problem was
common. Unless doctors get visited by a drug rep/salesperson they won't use a drug these days. It has been my experience that doctors WILL NOT in general research themselves!

But today, there are many using the Lidoderm patches.
The patches are trickey and you have to place them properly, for best effect and even the drug company does not help with this aspect.

Google Lidoderm studies...and print them out and take to your
out of date doctor. That is what I did.
In nursing homes today and rehab institutions, Lidoderms are very heavily used.

If your doctor is that behind the times, I wonder what else he is not doing for YOU!.

http://www.bio-medicine.org/medicine...hritis-3414-1/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
Notice the above study was from 2002!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15563743?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.P ubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=2&log$=relatedarticles& logdbfrom=pubmed
I am not sure about the application that was used in the above study.
At this time max of 3 patches a day, and use on the body for 12 hrs on and off 12 hrs
is the recommended method. I have never used more than one a day myself.
1/2 of a patch is still pretty strong if placed correctly for that particular pain spot.

I had a very painful lateral femoral nerve injury in my thigh from a C-section years before.
Nothing worked on it, and it was like 100 bee stings! Using the patch daily for 2 weeks put that nerve to sleep and it is a miracle for me! The pain is GONE! (it twinges now and then if I overexend the leg during exercise, but I never have that original pain anymore). I think that nerve was just firing...."just because"...and once that cycle was interrupted for a while, it stopped. I had it for YEARS...almost a decade!