I also had to stop azithromycin about 6 months into my first round of treatment for MAC (in 2000). They substituted ciprofloxacin. The MAC came back within a year. I went to NJH and they decided to try clarithromycin. I was on that along with ethambutol and rifampin 3 times a week for 10 months, then daily for the last 4 months and have had no change in my hearing tests.