MAC is more common in females than males and I have noticed that the ladies in this group outnumber the men by far. My message about side effects is directed toward my male friends on this site. I am a little hesitant to post this as I hate posting things that are not easily verified by a quick internet search. So here goes. I took the all of the big 3 drugs for about 5 months and during that time noticed a serious decrease in bedroom activities (trying real hard to be appropriate here). So I began an exhaustive internet search to find if any of the 3 drugs was somehow responsible. I came across a couple of obscure articles that showed Rifampin could indeed affect hormone levels in men. Two of my doctors of course had never heard of such a thing. I just happened to have had a hormone panel done 4 months before starting the drugs for an unrelated issue and it was normal. But I got another identical lab panel done just to see and found a remarkable change in my hormone levels. I immediately stopped the Rifampin (after seeing posts on this site that Rifampin is of questionable value in MAC anyway) and retested 1 month later and found my levels were completely back to normal, at the same time my male "symptoms" were completely back to normal. I realize this information is anecdotal with no science backing it up, but it is a side effect that definitely affected me. Bill

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