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.

Gemstone83x, I am soooo sorry for your loss, losing your mum is always very difficult!!! With stress, your immune system can get very low. I quit taking the flu shot because it made me so sick after a week or two as it does several people that I have known and talked to, you can still get the flu after that , the shot only covers certain strains of the flu. I am not saying do not take it as it is your choice and I am not a Dr. I know that my Dr. Wants me to take it because I am high risk with my medical problems but I just keep telling him no thank you.
I hope you feel better soon.

Monkfish, as we grow older, everything changes and we are all different.
You might have gotten allergies, have you been to an ear, nose throat specialist, or maybe even talk to a pharmacist.

1 p;l[.Ol,o,,okl.

Isn't nature cruel to make us more susceptible to infection when we're feeling down like gem. Effectively nature is trying to weed out the weak. It amuses me sometimes how some people swear by the "natural" way of doing things, when in fact, nature would see most of us off!

Anyway, I suspect it is stress related. I've had a lot of stress in my life over the last 5 years. Maybe I should get a blood count or something.

Talking of blood count and nerves: I get nervous about going to the dentist — not through fear of pain though, but the fear of getting hiv from poorly sterilized equipment. We all know the correct procedures that "should" be in place, but I wonder how many practices carry them out? Especially here in the uk were dental hygiene lags behind the us.