Possibly on the mend

This ongoing illness has finally snapped into a pattern I've seen before, and I didn't like it much then:

The medical profession's answer to my ongoing cough is a nasty lozenge seemingly made from the bowls in which Chia Pets are grown, which, I am told, will actually increase the level of coughing. It is a measure of how bad things are that I accepted this at face value.

This particular version of the ailment dates back to 2001; it began during a 4444-mile (literally) road trip, and persisted long after I'd left the driver's seat. The general feeling is that of having one's lungs filled with cotton candy, and not a good flavor of cotton candy either.