@irr4et thank you for the info on lidocaine leaching, That explains what happens to me. After my occipital injection, the pain down my neck shoulder, arm and back on left side was extreme, and left side of face and scalp hurt and were numb. The pain and stiffness radiated to my rib cage and I had trouble breathing. The neuro has no idea why this happened.

A few months later I had some lidocaine injections in my trap and rhomboid, basically shoulder blade, and pain increased for weeks. I have told docs NO lidocaine injections. Now there is nothing they can offer, and my pain is worsened by what they tried.

Is your damage permanent? My left hand is starting to curl in and it seems to be related. It may be Dupuytrens or scleroderma (I have positive antibodies) but to me, it seems related to that occipital injection. It feels connected to left neck, shoulder, arm...then hand that is tightening. My left arm is very much shorter than my right.

ps I sent part of your post to my neuro!