Recently she vanished somewhere in the mountains and I have been looking for her for a while now. She normally reappears when I fast travel so I tried this. No joy, she remains lost . I heard that after a week or so she would return to Whiterun so I went there. Problem was that having arrived there I had to complete the Battle for Whiterun to get inside.
Ok so I completed that and still no Lydia. The thing is that I can still hear her cough behind me. She has had an irritating little cough almost since I first started out with her and when I went into my house in Whiterun she coughed !! She was nowhere to be found of course and having left and gone elsewhere I still hear her cough at times as though she is still there.
Am I stuck with an invisible and untalkative follower for ever now? I am not worried particularly about the 8k in gold or the 6k in jewelery she was carrying but it would be nice to get that back too.
It may seem strange but I kind of miss her. She has been with me since level 4 or so (I am level 45 now) and I just got used to having her around. She has been great for practicing my restoration on as she needs it during numerous encounters at this level
Anyone got any ideas - I play on the Xbox 360 so no console fixes here.

