Hey guys! Need some advice/cures/help!

Ever since I was little I get at least one really bad cold a year...i'm not just talking sniffles, i mean a really bad cough, where I usually end up having to cough stuff up about four times an hour. It keeps me awake all night and i find the whole thing distressing...it affects my life cuz i hate going out when i'm like it cuz i know the chances are i'm going to have a massive coughing fit and run to a loo to cough up the phelgm.

When I was 18 I had a particulary bad period of this cough during my A Levels. My GP was unsympathetic, saying i merely had a cold and basically would have to deal with it the best way possible. I think my teachers thought my illness was caused by my emet and were also unsympathetic. For one exam I spent so much time trying not to cough I ended up having to go outside where I had the most almighty coughing fit whilst shaking and crying. In such circumstances the cough is not only annoying for me, but for those trying to work around me. I ended up sitting the rest of my exams in the medical room where I could use the toliet as I wished, but i'm pretty sure it annoyed the hell out of the teachers.

Anyway so now i'm in my third year of uni and the dreaded cough hasn't visited me in a while...until now. I have exams next week and I am suffering with a stinking cold now which I think may turn into the cough. It's affecting my revision as I just feel so tired all the time. The thought of sitting in a huge exam room for two hours whilst i'm ill again scares the hell out of me.

Seen as my GP doesn't care, and no over the counter medicines help, does anyone know how I can get rid of this, or at least get rid of the phlegm out of my system now, before I have to sit the exams? Thr annoying thing is I don't know anyone else who suffers with this...i know people who have colds and coughs but no who has a cough that makes them cough stuff up all time. The only people I know who do get it are little kids, so I have no one to ask for advice. Please help people!!! I'm so scared (