ST. LOUIS — It's a triple whammy ... heat, air quality and allergens have combined to create a trifecta of issues for people with lung disease.
"The combination is very potent," Dr. Robert Poirier, Washington University clinical chief of emergency medicine at Barnes-Jewish Hospital told 5 On Your Side.
The problems come down to what we are breathing in.
"High heat and humidity causes more particulates to kind of stay in the air longer," Poirier said.
You probably don't want to know what particulates Poirier is talking about, but here you go.
"It can be dust, it can be mites, it can be mold spores, pollen and then pollution as well," he added.
The combination whips up a perfect storm for allergy and asthma sufferers.
"We're in the middle of what is the ragweed season here in St. Louis. It will get worse before it gets better," allergist Dr. H. James Wedner at Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital told 5 On Your Side. "If you add the fact that it's very, very hot and very muggy and the air quality is not good ... that's bad for all of our allergy sufferers and particularly those that have asthma."
The feeling of not being able to breathe in this weather isn't in your head.
"We're seeing it every day now when we are seeing patients," Wedner said. "This hot, humid weather makes it harder to breathe. Remember you have to get this air into your lungs, if you have lung diseases it's going to breathe it in, takes a little more effort."
Most patients describe it as heavy, but Wedner said it's not heavier than any other air.
"But the quality of the air makes it more difficult to breathe," he added.
Allergy and asthma sufferers are forced to be homebound until the weather improves.
"This is a bad season," Wedner said. "It's not a good season under any circumstances if you are an allergy sufferer, particularly if you are allergic to the fall weeds. But this is adding to it, you've got allergies, asthma and now you've got really crumby, hot, humid weather. That's not good for our patients and they let us know."