Anyone get an abdominal rash with lenalidomide?

Posted by donna195 @donna195, Apr 22 9:49am

Has anyone developed an abdominal rash after 14 days of 21 day course of lenalidamide as part if 4 cycle DVRd regime which will end July 21 and then start Autologous stem Cell retrieval and transplant. My rash has lasted 5 days. My 1st cycle ends in 7 days and my doctor proactively is holding lenalidamide until I meet with ASCT doctor on may 1 to determine if we should resume 25 mg or reduce dosage. Both seem to make sense.

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Lee | @marco88 | Apr 23 6:49am

My husband developed a severe Lenalidomide/Revlimid rash. His oncologist reduced the dose, and added a cocktail to be taken with each dose - the cocktail is one L-Lysine pill, one regular Claritin, and two 20 mg Pepcid pills. Now Revlimid can be taken with no rash. These three over the counter meds have essentially no side effects. It may be worth discussing with your doctor.

sdudleys | @sdudleys | Apr 23 10:08pm

I (69 yo male) diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in December 2025, was on 25mg Revlimid for my first rotation. On day twenty(!) I developed a full body rash, it was everywhere.
Oncologist sent me to a dermatologist who did two skin biopsies, one from my shoulder and one from the top of my thigh. She gave me an oral med (1,000mg Valtrex) and a steroid cream (Kenalog) that cleared things up in a few days. We skipped Revlimid for the second rotation.
Third rotation we reduced the dose to 15mg and I was able to tolerate it for the 21 days. Today was my first 15mg dose for the fourth rotation.
BTW-dermatologist told me that one in four people on Revlimid develop a rash.
Hope that eases your mind a little bit.

donna195 | @donna195 | Apr 24 9:06am

In reply to @marco88 "My husband developed a severe Lenalidomide/Revlimid rash. His oncologist reduced the dose, and added a cocktail..." + (show)

@marco88 thank you!!

donna195 | @donna195 | Apr 24 9:07am

In reply to @sdudleys "I (69 yo male) diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in December 2025, was on 25mg Revlimid for..." + (show)

@sdudleys , thank you so much

Lee | @marco88 | Apr 24 2:54pm

In reply to @donna195 "@sdudleys , thank you so much" + (show)

@donna195 Best success if you try this. Both my husband's oncologists at FCS use this to reduce Revlimid rash, and we cleared it with the Mayo hematologist, who approved. I know it sounds odd, but when you look up all three meds and what they are capable of doing, it all makes sense! High hopes if you try!

donna195 | @donna195 | May 1 5:23am

In reply to @marco88 "@donna195 Best success if you try this. Both my husband's oncologists at FCS use this to..." + (show)

@marco88
Thank you so much for the tip. It helped a lot. I just got my labwork back after my first full cycle and my monoclonal cells came down from 2.8 to 1.2. When i was first diagnosed with MGUS in June 2023, it was 1.6 . I am so optimistic that my treatment is working and reducing my disease burden! 3 more cycles until ASCT!!

Lee | @marco88 | May 1 6:39am

Congratulations- what a nice feeling when something works! Wishing good health and good days for you.

jrenjr | @jrenjr | May 2 10:36am

I've had 32 28 day sessions with lenalidomide and Darzalex Fast Pro without any rashes. BUT, I would occasionally get an itching over the upper body that was annoying to say the least. It did not do any good to scratch it. Sometimes it would wake me at night and last about 15-30 minutes. My oncologist said to use Claritin which cost $43 per 100 tablets. Claritin is Loratadine/10mg. You can buy Loratadine for $10 for 100 on Amazon or Ebay.
One tablet a day solved my itching problem.
J. Renehan

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