Anyone experience tinnitus from MAC meds? Recede after treatment?

Anyone have experience getting tested and an aid anywhere else? We don't have Costco in our area. How about Sam's Club through Walmart? My husband is experiencing some hearing loss but won't admit it. Also concerned about the cost.
Thanks so much!

@jrtfan44 Welcome to our group. Do you have bronchiectasis? I have hearing aides I wear part time, but got them at Costco. This will bump up your question and maybe others can answer about Sam’s.
Here’s a link to the hearing loss group in Connect. I think you may be able to search that group for answers using the little magnifying glass at top of page. If you post there, you might get more responses. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/hearing-loss/
Good luck!

@jrtfan44 My husband had his first two sets of hearing aids from SAM's Club and was satisfied by the quality & the service. Due to changes in the severity of his loss, and the need for more options, the latest set are from another provider.
If you have Medicare with a supplement, on pair of aids, up yo $2500, are covered every 5 years.
The SAM's aids fell into this category, I believe his out of pocket cost was under $250.

I have some Tinnitus from years of NSAIDS with my migraines, and now meds with MAC. By accident I found that putting my noise-cancelling earbuds (Apple) in, the clarity of sound was great. I read that some people use them for assist with hearing.

@sallyvic that was my response too! I wonder why there’s not more discussion of research to correct tinnitus since it can be much more than just an annoyance!

I was on the big 3 for 6 months before waking up one day with tinnitus and hearing loss. I stopped the drugs when I saw my doctor within the next couple of days.

Neither my hearing loss nor tinnitus has improved in nearly 7 years since then. I have tried noise blocking head phones and hearing aids but neither helped with the tinnitus.

I’d love to hear if anyone has found anything else that helps.

@kathyhg I'm sorry this happened to you. The only thing which helped my tinnitus is hearing aids, but mine developed years before I took the big 3. What I'm curious about is how you've fared otherwise, in terms of MAC, since stopping the big 3 so many years ago. I took them last year for 6 months--symptoms disappeared in about 5 weeks--and an CT scan at 6 month mark made my pulmonologist "ecstatic." However, in about 6 weeks after stopping, cough gradually resumed and increased; so, I'm back on the big 3, after only 4 months off them. It's only be a few days, but I really don't like taking them!! (Who does?) So, how is your lung health the past 7 years?

@winema After reading your post it made think of several things, of which we really have nothing that I know of to confirm one or more things it made me think of.
1. It appears that your experience with taking the antibiotics for only 6 months of which I somewhat have to assume it was due to a sputum sample indicating nothing showing, no infections, allowed you per you and the pulmonologists decision to stop taking the antibiotics.
a. I may be totally wrong on my thoughts but my understanding is that at six months after taking the antibiotics and you get a 'no infection showing' with the sputum test you are suppose to continue for another few months to six months until it is 'fully' eradicated. If one is so lucky that it was fully eradicated and gone from all parts of the lungs.
b. My belief is that at times we get a " no infection showing" and the next one indicates 'infection show', and possibly it is/was never fully eradicated it was just deeper and hiding down in the lungs..or maybe that sample just didn't have enough of what they needed in it.

I don't know if my thoughts are right but I do wonder if they have an answer for all this.
Bottom line we have to do what we also think is best for us with all we know about ourselves, what we have read about all, what the doctor has told us and are comfortable with, what helps us, does not help us and what we want to take a chance with.

For me even though my sputum tests have come back showing 'nothing' I assume the intercellular is hiding deep down there and continue to do all my routine that I have established in the last few months that seems to have been working for me. I have not taken the antibiotics and continue to stay on watchful waiting with frequent sputum testing to be proactive and close watch.

For me this is what has worked but we are all different, however, hearing each others story and how we do things can give us ideas and new thoughts.

Hope you are having an easy day of it..as they say and we have heard....we "sometimes have good days and sometimes bad days."
Barbara

@winema - I’ve been faithfully nebulizing with 7% saline and practicing airway clearance techniques (my husband pats my back and sides once a day and I do autogenic drainage/huff coughing after nebulizing) to keep my lungs clear.

My AFB has fluctuated, often higher with illnesses like colds, the flu, covid or injuries (cracked rib) because it becomes more challenging to clear my lungs if I’m not well. My CT scans have also fluctuated over the years - mostly as nodules and other concerning images come and go. Overall, neither my AFB nor my CT images are much worse than they were after 6 months on the medication.

It is a lot harder to clear my lungs and minimize worsening of the Mac this way than it was on the big 3. I try to exercise, especially cardio, every day and I’ve adjusted my diet and lifestyle so I stay as healthy as I can. It’s sometimes a bit tedious to always think about whether what I eat and what I do will improve or worsen my health. It has also been hard to give up things l like (sugar, fatty foods, morning coffee, an occasional glass of wine). My hearing loss and tinnitus are constant reminders of the side effects of the big 3 and why I’m doing it this way.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll go back on the medication if things worsen but I’ll keep doing this as long as it is working.

If it's any consolation to other tinnitus sufferers, I also developed it (so far in one ear) and I have never been on the drug cocktail for NTM. If I had to guess I think it had to be the number of Z-packs over the course of my life. Furthermore, at least in my case, there are genetics involved as my mother and sister developed tinnitus as well.