My Side Effects of Tafinlar and Mekinist - Rash

This was the first semi-bad side effect I encountered. Doctors did warn me about various types of rashes being a common side effect of Tafinlar and Mekinist. 

My rash occurred in the first month after starting Tafinlar and Mekinist. 

It was never officially diagnosed as Panniculitis but doctors agreed that it did appear to be side effect induced Panniculitis. So for that reason, we referred to it simply as a rash.

WHAT KIND OF RASH EXACTLY? 

Panniculitis is inflammation of subcutaneous fat. 

For me, it was bruised feeling red/dark pink spots (never purple).

I actually usually felt them before I saw them. They felt like deep bruises but there were no physical marks at first. After several days, you could see a red spot appear where I felt the bruises. 

Then those red spots and the deep bruised feeling lasted 2 to 3 weeks. Never changing color, always red. 

And when particularly bad, they had lumps under them. 

It was like a game of whack-a-mole where when 4 would go away, 5 new ones would appear. A constant disappearance of a few, and simultaneous appearance of more in new areas.

One week I might have as few as 5 spots. The next I could have more than I can count. Once I was absolutely covered in them. That was when my fevers first started.

When I say covered, I mean my arms, legs and feet were covered in them. They never affected my torso. 

And many of the red spots had lumps under them. Sometimes a few lumps meshed together to make one large lump. 

The ones on the bottoms of my feet were the worst. They felt like "stone bruises" and it was very painful to walk when they were in that location. 

I also noticed that when one appeared on one side of my body, often one was in a similar location on the other side of my body, such as both thighs. 

When it is very bad, it can hurt to sit, cross your arms, walk etc. 

WHAT HELPED?

My doctor gave me steroid cream. It did not help much. At least not quickly.

I ended up trying cupping, a practice of placing medical suction cups on the body. This was taught to me at the hospital for other purposes, but I thought what the heck and tried it on this. 

It is considered safe and all of my doctors are very aware that I do it and of how it helps these types of things a great deal. They very much support it.

I was shocked but cupping these spots worked like a charm!  It helped the spots heal way faster. Sometimes immediately the pain was gone. No kidding.  It felt like a miracle. One of these times was on the bottoms of my feet when I could barely walk from it.

Worst case, for it to help, I needed to cup them for a few days and they'd be gone by day 4. But still, way faster than 2 to 3 weeks. 

For more information, I did a post on how we think it works, what cups I own and how I used them. 

ARE THE SPOTS STILL THERE?

Nope. After we lowered my Tafinlar and Mekinist dose in mid-October, I didn't have any more Panniculitis. It slowly subsided until it stopped on November 8, 2022. So in the end, it lasted roughly 2.5 months.