Can you sleep with a lidocaine patch on?

Lidocaine (Lidoderm, Tridacaine XL) is a medication that doctors often prescribe to help manage localized areas of pain. It comes as an adhesive transdermal skin patch and can help treat various health conditions, such as:

• nerve pain that develops after a shingles infection
• diabetic neuropathy
• arthritis
• postoperative pain
• lower back pain
• carpal tunnel syndrome

Lidocaine patches block the nerve endings in your skin, decreasing your pain levels and helping you manage day-to-day life.

Some people may wish to wear a lidocaine patch to help relieve their pain at night to aid sleep.

Sleeping while using a lidocaine skin patch to relieve pain is safe. However, people must only wear it for up to 12 hours to avoid a lidocaine overdose.

Is it safe to sleep with a lidocaine patch on?

It is safe to sleep for up to 12 hours while using a lidocaine skin patch for pain relief. Wearing a patch for longer may lead to a lidocaine overdose.

There are benefits to sleeping while wearing a transdermal lidocaine patch. One study found that people with postherpetic neuralgia (nerve pain due to shingles) experienced better-quality sleep and could fall asleep easier while using a 5% lidocaine patch.

A more recent study found that combining the use of a 5% lidocaine patch with spinal cord stimulation (SCS) significantly helped in pain relief and sleep quality in adults ages 60 years and older with postherpetic neuralgia compared with the use of SCS alone.

If your pain is severe, a doctor will typically prescribe higher-strength transdermal lidocaine patches that you can apply at any time of day. Lower-strength lidocaine patches are available over-the-counter (OTC). You can apply these patches long term if they help your chronic pain.

Avoid using the patch in some situations, like swimming, showering, or bathing. This is because you must keep the patch dry. It’s also important to not apply heat to the patch area, including avoiding heating pads and electronic blankets.

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What are the potential risks?

Different types of lidocaine patches have varying limits for the maximum amount of time you should wear them.

For example, you should not exceed 12 hours of continuously wearing a prescription 5% lidocaine transdermal patch. This means that if you choose to wear a patch to help you sleep, you must make sure you’re awake within 12 hours of applying it so you can remove it.

Exceeding the wearing limit of a lidocaine patch may put you at risk of an overdose. Symptoms of a lidocaine overdose can include:

• blurry vision
• restlessness
• agitation
• tinnitus
• nervousness
• paranoia
• dizziness
• unconsciousness

Summary

Lidocaine patches are safe to wear overnight and can help you get a good night’s sleep. However, different types of lidocaine patches have different hourly limits on how long you can safely wear them.

Wearing a lidocaine patch overnight may place you at risk of sleeping through the maximum usage time for the patch (typically 12 hours, but possibly shorter). This could increase your risk of lidocaine overdose. You can help avoid this by setting an alarm to wake you up in plenty of time to remove the patch.

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