This cough thing...

So I have this cough thing... For the past 18 years I've struggled with an over active immune system problem. It kept my immune system (both primary and backup systems) working round the clock. The good part of that was that for 18 years, I couldn't catch a cold. No, seriously. I could be around anyone with anything and never caught it. Not sure if I was a carrier or not, but I never got sick - no sniffles, sneezing, coughing, flu, nothing. I've spent the past 5 years or so working on normalizing my system through nutrition and prevention. It started with a high antioxidant health beverage called Monavie. I, like most people, was not eating 8 to 10 servings of natural fruit and vegetables every day. Do you know what happens when we don't eat like that? Our body doesn't have the building blocks it needs to repair and heal itself from life's attacks. My body slowly began to heal. I noticed the migraines were the first to leave, followed by the chronic fatigue bouts. Next I noticed my hair, skin, and nails looked better, my skin was better, and I had less issues with proteins (I was even allergic to too many proteins for years, long story). Anyway, as I began healing, I started making other life changes. I add more exercise now than I did in my 30s. I give myself permission to take naps when I didn't sleep the night before. I buy WAY more fruits and vegetables now, in fact, I eat a diet that's got to be at least 75% vegetarian. That I didn't plan, it just turns out that way. I also buy organic when possible, and don't keep things like chips, soda, cookies, and ice cream in the house. I make desserts and sweets "something you go get". If I get a craving for say, Oreos, at 9 at night, I'm NOT getting dressed, going out in the dark, parking in a dark parking lot, just to go get cookies. If they were already in the house, I'd eat more than I should, I'm sure. Anyway, back to this cough thing... A few months ago I had a total set of blood work done. I have brought myself to the exact center of the normal range in everything! That includes good/bad cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, hormones, everything! But know what else that means? Now I can get sick! My son stayed at a friend's house for the weekend, then found out his friend had been sick all week. He brought the germs home and my daughter caught them, then so did I. Not knowing I could get sick again, and not realizing my son was already incubating this cough thing, I let him sleep in my queen bed while I was out of town with Tim for the night. That did it. I was sick, although the cough hadn't kicked in yet. Just tired, sore throat, and stuffiness. I took care of my sick daughter, who got the worst of it, for weeks. About a week ago, I too had developed This Cough Thing. At first I was kind of happy about being well enough that I could get sick, but that wore off after a few days without a voice. Now the past 3 or 4 days have been spent with 2 and 3 hour coughing fits, less sleep, and whenever I do anything, I feel winded, like when I was younger and had asthma issues. When I try to take a deep breath, I cough again for another hour. It's that unproductive, dry cough. Ugh! I've tried over the counter medicines, home remedies, teas, garlic, cinnamon, honey, you name it! I guess I'll just have to deal with this cough thing as long as it takes. There's no other symptoms now, it's not in my chest, I'm not wheezing, it's just a cough. But I guess it'll be easier to deal with it if I just remember that I'm "well" enough to get sick - and that's something to be thankful for, isn't it?