I dont know about over the past 20 years, but I think there are so many different cold viruses, and they will affect you in different ways. Emotional upset and stress can wear you down and make you more prone to having a worse cold than usual I think. (in my case because my mum died 2 weeks ago)
i have a cold at the moment and the ones ive had lately have started off very quickly as a sore throat yesterday and today ive had a headache on and off all day. Ive had a flu jab so im pretty sure its a cold, and they can be quite bad. Its just that time of year and its easy to forget how you felt when you last had a cold.
Maybe you've developed a lot of immunity to the cold viruses that are higher up in your nose and sinuses, so its mainly the throaty ones that are getting in there now.
Either way I hope you feel better soon.