I was to gargle the solution to bring relief to painful strep throat. Since the solution had an extremely thick consistency, it was difficult to gargle. The pain in my throat was also very far down and this was difficult to do without choking. I haven't experienced the numbness of the area that I would like to have, but the pain is less than it would be otherwise.

This may sound bizzare. This medication is used as a topical as opposed to injestible or injectible. My pain area is erruptions of blisters due to genital herpes. I am on a daily dose of Valacyclovir 500 mg. profilactily (meaning even without symptoms to keep a small dosage in my system to keep the virus at bay) The other day the virus was present with the pain of the broken blisters. I saw Lidocain viscous 2% in my medicine cabinet for use for gargling for temporary relief of a sorethroat. I applied a small amount on a tissue making sure to avoid contamination to the top of the bottle by using clean tissues for addisional reapplication. The pain relief was instantaneous albiet temporary. But if anyone has experienced the pain associated with these blisters (usually women have more pain as men don't always know they are with symptoms) even temporary relief is wonderous!!! Maybe a new use for this topical drug???

I have a sore throat, not sure of cause yet as I am still waiting for throat culture results. I too found it very difficult to gargle and I could not get the solution to the part that needed it before my gag reflex kicked in. What I did was use a q-tip and applied it directly to my tonsil area. There is only one area that still hurts so this is better than the gargle directive.

I have been really sick with tonsillitis and strep throat, so finally the Dr. prescribed this to me, and it was a Godsend! It IS thick and tastes nasty, but if you're in that much pain, those things don't matter. And, the solution is so powerful that you can dilute it a little with water to help with the consistency if need be and still have great results. I recommend it to anyone with severe mouth/throat pain.

I was percribed this for relief of severe strep throat. The taste is not plesant, and the thick consistancy makes it difficult to gargle. To be honest, I found it difficult to use probably won't use it again.