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@anniepie

Thanks @rmason @irene5 @america for your help. I saw the pulmonologist at the Mycobacterium Clinic in the hospital today. They won't change me to Rifabutin because my damaged liver cannot take it.

They said I will have to just accept what the Rifampin is doing to my thyroid and cholesterol. That's hard because I'm so hypothyroid now I need to sleep almost all day and all night, every day, every month. Like Rip Van Winkle! But I'm not sure how I can accept that for another year or two years. Next week I will see a psychologist for some help with that.

(@america I take my Levothyroxine 8 to 10 hours apart from the Rifampin -- in the morning. I always take the TB meds/Big3 at night, as advised by my pulmonologist. Rifampin doesn't have any big problems for some people with thyroid disease but for others it does. Unfortunately it does with me).

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Replies to "Thanks @rmason @irene5 @america for your help. I saw the pulmonologist at the Mycobacterium Clinic in..."

@anniepie I am so sorry because having MAC makes a person fatigued, and then adding a hypothyroid issue to that must be debilitating for you. The cholesterol issue is a tough one too because of the impact of those meds on your liver. My brother has been in the hospital with endocarditis, the effects of which are reparable with a valve replacement. He is afraid to have the surgery. I told him I was certain if there were a surgery to fix MAC there would be a line out the door for all of us to have that fix! Realizing that bit of “luck” helped him rethink that in a hurry! The MAC road is lengthy and bumpy for many of us. Sending you a gentle hug and prayers.

@anniepie I was on Rifabutin first and had horrible muscle, flu like symptoms and back pain after the first 2 weeks. I was switched to Rifampin. But I did do some reading about doing some kind of desensitation program to obtain tolerance