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

[NickB79]

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.

[Warpy]

1. Talk to your doc about getting the pneumonia vaccine

I had the jab when I was younger than you are and for the same reason---every sniffle immediately decided to head south and turn into bronchitis or worse. The vaccine cut them down to practically nothing.

There's a lot we still don't know about Covid and it could very well set some people up for opportunistic infections.

[NickB79]

2. Thank you, I didn't know that was an option for someone my age

I'll definitely bring it up!

[Diamond_Dog]

3. Good luck, this damn virus has really done a number on so many of us.

[JenniferJuniper]

4. Happened to me in my 30's, long before Covid,

I had a horrific case of bronchitis that took a long time to recover from. And from that point forward I rarely ever get a normal cold, everything seems to turn into a moderate or severe case of bronchitis.

One doctor explained that a bad case can predispose one to multiple future episodes of minor colds that turn into bronchitis pretty quickly. He told me to try to go at least 2 years without contracting a respiratory virus, I guess to let the bronchial tubes fully heal. Not easy to do.

I did have Covid for the first time about 6 weeks ago. Was very mild and didn't turn into bronchitis. Go figure.

[MLAA]

5. So sorry!

Husband and I finally got Covid in early January and are both still tired.

Also ask your Dr about the RSV vaccine. Don’t know if it will help, but when it became available I had husband get it as he has COPD.

Fingers crossed for you, keep us posted!