I had a case of COVID in July 2022. Since then, every single cold seems to turn into bronchitis [View all]

I was a healthy, athletic 42 yr old man, regularly lifting weights and working on my hobby farm, fully vaccinated, and had every booster available to that point on schedule. I was the kind of person who bounced back from colds in a matter of days. But after a 4th of July get-together, I came down with COVID. I was in bed for a week, horrible headache and lack of strength. Afterwards, I had shortness of breath for a few weeks, and eventually ended up in urgent care with a bad case of bronchitis, bordering on pneumonia. I was told that, were I any worse, they would have sent me to the hospital. I was given an inhaler, antibiotics, and a nebulizer. I recovered quickly after that, but now every little cold I get seems to progress to bronchitis. And my daughter is 13, so she regularly brings home stuff from middle school. I'm currently hacking up mucus for the second time this year alone. I still get every COVID and flu shot available every fall, and am otherwise a healthy person. It's just so weird how a little sniffle one day progresses so rapidly to violent coughing the next.

Is this permanent? Is this a long COVID symptom? The last case I toughed out and it took 3 weeks to resolve itself. I just started coughing yesterday night, and I'm not doing that again. If I'm still coughing by Friday, I'm going back in. But I can't help but worry that this is my future now. And God help me if I ever get a case of the flu that the vaccine doesn't stop.