Hello,
I want to give the folks who are newly diagnosed with MAC some hope. I was diagnosed in 1999 when I was only 40 years old. I'm a white, slender female with NO underlying lung conditions. Why I contracted MAC is a mystery. Went on the typical drug regimen and tolerated it fairly well. Had my lower left lobe removed at National Jewish in 2000 and continued on the drug regimen for quite a while, but it never got rid of the MAC completely (sadly one of the drugs did affect my hearing). Since then, I've raised two boys, continued to work full time and even got my master's degree. For the last four years or so, I take 1000mg of Augmentin daily. Every other day I do a breathing treatment of albuterol and budesonide. I think this has been key. It gets the junk out of the lungs, allows me to breathe better and keeps the infection at bay. I know so many of you suffer horribly with this disease. I'm one of the lucky ones, and I only hope that there are some breakthroughs in research. See this article about a new antibiotic scientists are working on: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/14/first-new-antibiotic-in-30-years-discovered-in-major-breakthroug/