I think I have this somewhat resolved? Seems if I go on Nostur and follow people the follows stick. Now trying to find all the people I used to follow…
nostr:nevent1qqsr8jc6uha7hfz9l4s69a54lymuv6aph...
Also for me when I lose a lot of follows if I go to Nostur it says something about it nuking your follow list, and if you would like to restore your previous follows