Question: I caught cold/flu ~ April 5th and recovered after ~4 weeks. But I still have a slight breathing difficulty. When I take a deep breath and then try to exhale, I get an urge to cough (dry, light cough). If lying on bed during the night, exhaling is more problematic, nothing serious but unconfortable. After falling asleep and waking up during the night, I notice that I must have been taking shallow breaths, because that is the breathing state I was in. I guess my body automatically adjusted to shallow breathing to compensate for the coughing issue on deep breathing.
Basically every time I catch cold/flu. It start with a light sore throat which worsens to a severely sore throat for 3~4 days and it then progresses to bronchitis-like condition for 2~3 weeks and eventually gets better but the uncomfortable exhaling issue lingers for a long time (over 1~1.5 months). In addition, when I try to speak softly, I get these light dry coughs as well. But if I speak forcibly, then I don't cough. I have experienced what I have described for 30+ years but I have noticed that last couple of years are worse than previous years. I am concerned my lungs may have been weakened due to all these years such that I may become a candidate for COPD. I would appreciate your advice. Thanks very much.