What is Lidocaine Viscous Hcl: Uses, Warnings & Interactions

Take this medication exactly as instructed. Do not use more medicine or use it more often than your doctor tells you to.

The pharmacist will probably give you a Patient Information leaflet. Please read this leaflet before using the medicine.

Lidocaine viscous is for oral use only.

Children should be closely supervised by an adult when this medication is used.

Shake the bottle well before measuring a dose.

Measure doses as accurately as possible using a drug measuring device such as an oral syringe or medicine cup.

• Do not use kitchen measuring devices or tableware to measure doses.

Do not take doses sooner than three hours after the last dose.

• Your prescription may be for “use as needed” or “PRN.” Even on an as-needed basis, lidocaine viscous doses must be spaced three hours apart.

When used as a mouth rinse:

• Swish the dose around in the mouth.

• Spit it out.

When used as a throat gargle:

• Gargle the solution.

• The solution can be swallowed unless the doctor instructs otherwise.

• Children should not swallow this medication unless directed by the prescriber.

When used on a young child:

• Measure the dose as accurately as possible.

• Apply the dose to the affected area using a cotton swab. 

Store lidocaine viscous at room temperature in a childproof container.

Ask the prescriber how to manage a missed dose.

Doses must always be spaced three hours apart.

Do not use more lidocaine viscous than prescribed to make up for a missed dose.

This medicine is not right for everyone. 

Do not use it if you have had an allergic reaction to lidocaine or similar medicines.

Before taking lidocaine viscous, make sure the prescriber knows if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding. 

• Lidocaine viscous HCl is not recommended during pregnancy and should be used with caution when breastfeeding.

Lidocaine viscous can cause serious problems, usually when too much lidocaine is used. These include:

• A potentially severe blood problem called methemoglobinemia

• Central nervous system problems

• Convulsions

• Slowed heart rate

• Slowed or stopped breathing

• Low blood pressure

• Heart attack

Taking too much lidocaine viscous or taking it more often than prescribed could cause severe side effects or death. Do not depart from the instructions given by the prescriber, particularly in very young children.

• Contact the prescriber if a dose of lidocaine viscous makes you drowsy. This is usually the first sign that too much lidocaine is in your system.

After a dose is applied, you won’t be able to feel anything in your mouth (or throat). 

• While your mouth or throat is numb, you are at an increased risk of choking, aspirating food, or biting your mouth or tongue.

• Do not eat or chew gum for one hour after applying a dose.

• Avoid activities that may cause you or a child using this medicine to bite the mouth or tongue.

• If used for a dental or medical procedure, tell the clinician if your mouth or throat is not fully numbed by about five minutes after a dose is applied.

Supervise any child who uses this medicine both during and after the dose.

• Children should never swallow this medicine.

• Lidocaine viscous can cause severe or fatal side effects in very young children. Do not use this medicine on a child younger than 3 years of age without a doctor's approval.

Call your doctor if your symptoms do not improve or if they get worse.

Keep this medicine securely out of the reach of children.

Dispose of any unused medicine carefully so that no child or pet can access it.

To avoid potentially hazardous drug interactions, tell the prescriber about all the drugs you take, particularly:

• Other local anesthetics

• Drugs that dilate blood vessels called nitrates

• Sulfonamide antibiotics

• Drugs that treat malaria 

• Acetaminophen, cyclophosphamide, dapsone, flutamide, hydroxyurea, ifosfamide, metoclopramide, nitrofurantoin, phenobarbital, phenytoin, sulfasalazine, rasburicase, valproate sodium

Tell any other doctor or other healthcare provider who treats you that you are using lidocaine oral.