I was on the big 3 for about 6 months when I woke up one morning with tinnitus and later found out I also had hearing loss (they seem to go together). I was able to see my doctor right away and he stopped all of the drugs; he said that the side effects were from Azithromycin. That was just over 4 years ago and neither has improved.

I found a new doctor with more expertise in NTM and I’ve been doing airway clearance ( with 7% saline twice a day, aerobika, huff coughing, etc) for the last 4 years. I’ve been able to remain stable since then. My sputum tests are better (lower bacteria count in samples) now than they were after 6 months on the drugs. I’m hoping that this continues to work for me until some of the new drugs specifically for NTM are on the market.

Hoping for you that the medications works out better for you than they did for me.