u/Several_Fee1336

Hello all! I have only more recently started reading up on how respirators work, and only started wearing them in 2025. For almost a year now, the main mask I have used is the WellBefore N95 (NOT their KN95; specifically their N95). However, I've heard virtually nothing about this mask from online reviewers and those who talk about their most highly recommended, well-fitting N95s. For anyone who does know, I am curious what impressions folks have of this company's trustworthiness, how well this mask compares to other N95s, etc. Part of why I've also relied on this one so heavily is that the straps are very adjustable, which has been extremely useful, especially as someone on a budget who reuses masks a few times before throwing them away.

I got sick in March of 2020, as a teenager, just after nationwide lockdown began. At the time, my only major symptom was a cough; no runny nose, no fever, no other aches. But the cough lasted for twelve weeks and was so persistent that for several weeks, I had to curl my legs to my chest and squeeze my arms around them to brace myself any time I needed to cough, because it became so painful. I had many late nights terrified to go to sleep because I was scared I would die. I couldn't see or talk to a doctor about the symptoms of course, and after the first time my mom tried to get me a virtual appointment, we gave up. Several weeks into the endless cough, I also started having much more unmanageable migraines. (I've struggled with migraines for most of my life, but these were more frequent and less responsive to pain meds). Even after the cough went away, the migraines persisted, and have been harder to manage ever since. I've spent years struggling to manage these migraines. There are times when they are somewhat quiet for months, but there are also times when they're daily.

Between these symptoms and mental health struggles/brain fog that also escalated in the next few years, I have struggled to manage college classes or hold down a job since graduating high school. I still live with my family, who are not taking any COVID precautions. Some of my family are strongly anti-mask.

I only became aware of Long COVID in mid-2025, through Physics Girl's stream about living with Long COVID and ME/CFS. I stopped masking in 2022, but hearing the statistics on Long COVID & seeing Physics Girl's experience persuaded me to start masking again. I have been wearing an N95 in all public spaces since September. I am incredibly grateful to be more informed now and working on talking to my family (& friends) about taking COVID precautions again.

I have started to wonder about how I should understand my own symptoms. Even at the time I believed the cough was most likely COVID, but I've had many people doubt it too. I was obviously not tested for COVID in 2020 when my symptoms appeared, and I essentially always understood the cough as a sort of crazy incident to move on from, and the migraines as a natural consequence of how stressed I was. This is also how I was treated when I went back to seeing my doctor--my concern about the cough and my current struggle with migraines were both dismissed immediately, and the doctor instead insisted I should focus on resolving my acne. I switched doctors, obviously, and my current doctor is much more helpful with symptom management but likely not well-informed about COVID, though she also thankfully wears a mask on my request and has not treated me like I'm crazy for starting to mask again.

Is there anything I can do to find out if my symptoms are associated with Long COVID? Is there any support or testing/treatment I can pursue?