This may get a bit preachy so imma hide it in drop down.
THIS IS FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE
Lidocaine
What is it
Lidocain is a local anesthetic, this means it provides a loss of sensation in a local area.
What does it look like
Lidocaine can be found in a cream or gel form these are known as topical anesthetics and work through the skin to provide numbing in the applied area. The other common form is a suspension meant for subcutaneous injection this is a clear liquid that is injected just below the skin.
Side effects
As with any drug there are side effects these change slightly depending on whether you are using a topical application or injecting.
These are more common but not as serious and just require monitoring.
- injection site pain (prior to anesthesia onset),
- feeling lightheaded,
- euphoria (overly happy),
- shaking,
- drowsiness,
- confusion,
- weakness,
- blurry or double vision
These are significantly more rare but are worse and require immediate hospital treatment.
- seizures,
- abnormal heart beats,
- slow heart beat,
*severe allergic reactions, - respiratory arrest,
- coma.
Overdose
These are the signs too much lidocaine has be used you need to seek medical treatment ASAP and ideally provide them information as to what and how much you have taken.
- Numbness (around the mouth or of the tongue)
- Metallic taste in the mouth
- Dizziness
- Ringing of the ears (tinnitus)
- Blurred vision
- Restlessness, agitation, or nervousness
- Paranoia
- Muscle twitches
- Seizures
Timing
Lidocain is a short lasting anesthetic as such should only be used for short procedures. The length of time numbness will last varies person to person however normally will not exceed 30 minutes.
Topical lidocain will usually need to be spread onto the required area and occluded for atleast 2 hours.
Subcutaneous Lidocaine has a much shorter onset time of between 5 and 10 minutes.
Dosing
These dosings are safe limits for full body it is rare that large areas are numbed with local anesthetic as you can quickly approach dangerous limits.
Maximum dose without a vasoconstrictor (adrenaline or epinephrine) 4.5mg/kg with a absolute maximum dose of 300mg.
Maximum dose with a vasoconstrictor (adrenaline or epinephrine) 7mg/kg with a absolute maximum dose of 500mg.
So for a person weighing 20kg the maximum dose without a vasoconstrictor would be 4.5 x 20 or 90mg.
Volume calculation
Lidocaine solution will not normally state its mg content this can be calculated from the concentration for example; 1% Lidocaine solutions contain 10mg of Lidocaine per 1ml.
So for the person mentioned earlier we want 90mg so the maximum dose would be 9ml.
Additional information
All of the information above is interesting and should be known. However due to the relatively small areas biohackers what to numb it is unlikely that you will ever approach an unsafe dose.
For example;
- Removal of xSeries requires between 1 and 2ml of 1% solution.
- Implanting sensing magnets require around 2ml of 1% solution.
As you can see from those examples this is well below an unsafe dose at only 10-20mg.