Andovernan, if you had taken the time to browse Gransnet, you would have noticed that there are interesting threads and many supportive posters.
I have made a fair number of friends over the years.
As for the cough, unless you have experienced it, you have no idea how debilitating it can be.
I have COPD and am on lifetime, prophylactic antibiotics, anti reflux medication, diuretics ( fluid in lungs and round heart) and three inhalers, all to no avail. At Christmas my GP prescribed Doxcycicline, which helped get rid of the cough for a week, it's back with a vengeance! That's eleven months of coughing!
Very dismissive to say it's all gloom and doom., BTW.