I lost 19 years of qualifying payments because I consolidated

I entered repayment from undergrad loans in 2003. Since it first became available, I've been on IDR. In 2022, when all this forgiveness stuff started, studentaid.gov told me to consolidate the loans because they were ffelp so I believed them and did.

Today, I contacted them to see how many qualifying payments I've made. They told me my count now starts in 2022 rather than 2003 and that I should not have been told to consolidate but they are sorry for the "inconvenience."

It feels like a lot more than an "inconvenience" that I've lost 19 years towards my forgiveness... I've been checking for the golden email every day since my loans are 21 years old, but now I guess I just cry instead.