I came down with a terrible cough in mid-March, the week before lockdown started. I don’t know if I had a fever as, at that point, we didn’t own a thermometer; if I did, it would only have been very mild, I didn’t feel particularly sick but the coughing was relentless. I read online (possibly on MN) that if you could hold your breath for ten second without coughing, it’s not covid. I couldn’t get to ten, I was literally coughing non-stop for about three weeks. I also felt a constant weight on my chest, which got tighter when I lay down.
Obviously at that point, there was no widespread covid testing and we were just told to isolate if we had symptoms. I did everything to the letter – moved into the spare room at home, didn’t mix with other family members and luckily nobody else seemed to catch it, or if they did, they were asymptomatic. After three weeks of violent coughing, it started to recede to the point where I’d cough 2-3 times per day only. BUT, this is the thing. I’ve stayed like this, the cough has not completely gone away and I still have bouts 2 or three times per day (usually when I’m in a supermarket or other public place and get looks of terror from all around me). It’s been 7 months with absolutely no change to this pattern. I also find that the tightness in my chest comes back momentarily when I lie down and always after any physical exercise and this is accompanied by more coughing. For example, my house is at the top of a very steep hill which I used to walk up and down with no issue. Now when I reach the top my chest is tight and I need to cough but the tight sensation goes as soon as I’ve coughed.
Other than the regular but infrequent coughing and tightness, I feel absolutely fine. I am wondering though if this is a sign that the virus I had in March was actually Covid and am I now suffering from a mild form of long covid? Is there any way to tell or anything I should be doing about this? I'm 40 with no underlying health conditions but am a bit overweight.