It's Going to be The 'Worst Allergy Season Ever': No, Really

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Some people are already complaining about it. The snow hasn’t even completely melted, and we’re already cursing the pollen seeds threatening to shoot from the earth underneath.

Judging by social media posts and complaints from friends, those who struggle with allergies are either already experiencing the wrath of the season, or bracing themselves with tissue boxes and inhalers from it.

Doctors this year are confirming the prediction that it could be one of the worst allergy and asthma seasons in a long time. No, really.

“There’s a couple factors,” Dr. Clifford Bassett, founder and medical director at Allergy and Asthma Care of New York, told weather.com in a recent article. “One is the rising long term increase in carbon dioxide and its effect on increased production of pollen,” and another is what he calls “the priming effect.”

In an in-depth study by PLOS One that would already make you itchy with confusion, it found that the annual pollen influx “shows highly similar variability across a broad geographical area, which is driven by largely the same variables.” The study points to changes in climate as upping the pollen ante.

The Weather Channel added that the doozy of a winter also impacts the pollen season, with Dr. Bassett explaining that some studies show heavy precipitation during fall and winter as a precursor to pollen production (particularly grass pollen).

Basset added in the interview that something called a “priming effect,” which is when temperatures escalate in a short period of time, adds to the recipe for a significant allergy season.

Allergies are the sixth leading cause of chronic illness in the country, with an annual cost exceeding $18 billion, according to the Center for Disease Control. The CDC says that 50 million suffer from it each year.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America published its Allergy Capitals list in 2014, listing the top 100 cities for allergies in the country. Louisville, KY, Wichita, KS and Oklahoma, OK, top that list.

As if you don’t know, the CDC reminds us that, “Allergies are an overreaction of the immune system to substances that generally do not affect other individuals. These substances, or allergens, can cause sneezing, coughing, and itching. Allergic reactions range from merely bothersome to life-threatening. Some allergies are seasonal, like hay fever. Allergies have also been associated with chronic conditions like sinusitis and asthma.”

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) says there are five things you need to know before embarking on what is, for some, the season of hell.