So, I Finally Declare My Enemy! Dust!

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If anyone has been following some of my latest posts, they would know that I have been suffering from all sorts of health issues of late. A great shortness of breath and breathing difficulties being among them. It was set off by a number of factors, but I finally found the #1 cause: Dust. There are a ton of factors involved, but that story would take hours to write, so I'll summarize: Watching a dog for two week, cleaning up and shifting boxes, having an insufficient vacuum cleaner, and unblocking a forced air vent that blew under a couch (until I blocked it again). All of that led to a lot of dust in the air. While this wasn't helpful, I didn't feel anything until food allergies and an incident involving bleach and acid reflux irritated my throat and lungs. After that, it was straight into anxiety land. It was difficult being unable to breathe. I even prepared myself with the reality that I might not wake up when I fell asleep (anxiety heightens your perception of death). So a massive cleaning effort yesterday and the night before using a different vacuum with an agitator, resulted in me pulling out five containers of dirt, dust, hair, pet dander, and carpet fibers. It made a neat mound in my yard. I was so persistent that I even targeted the floating dust in the air. Now I'm happy to report that I can take deep breaths again, but I still have a lot of mucus in my lungs that prevents normal breathing. It's gone from dire to annoying. I'm okay with annoying! Knowing the cause helped diminish my anxiety as well.