By Linda Reese, MPAS, PA-C Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs that makes it difficult to get air out. It is characterized by inflammation and increased mucus in the airways along with constriction of the muscles surrounding the breathing tubes. When the airways become inflamed, narrowed and filled with mucus, this causes wheezing, coughing, a feeling of chest tightness and shortness of breath. The cause of asthma is not known, but both genetic and environmental factors contribute. Intermittent obstruction can often be reversed. However, if asthma is left untreated, the airways undergo structural changes, and the obstruction can become permanent. An unpredictable but common condition Asthma is classified as mild, moderate or severe. Symptoms can be triggered by a wide variety of factors, including viruses, allergens, pet dander, dust mites, stress, and certain foods and medications. Each person has different triggers, and these can change over a person’s lifetime. Asthma is with the expansion of pulmonary care By Michael Pietila, MD, FCCP, FACP, pulmonary, critical care, sleep and internal medicine physician at Yankton Medical Clinic and clinical professor of internal medicine at the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine I would like to take this opportunity to introduce Linda Reese, a physician assistant (PA) who has joined the pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine team at the Yankton Medical Clinic (YMC). Linda has a vast amount of experience as a respiratory therapist and now as a PA caring for patients across the spectrum of respiratory illness. She has extensive knowledge in managing conditions like asthma, COPD, sleep apnea and other diseases affecting the lungs and causing breathing difficulty. Linda has been a member of the health care community in Yankton for 25 years, working at the YMC and Avera Sacred Heart Hospital. She is now providing clinical care for patients with any respiratory complaint as an extension of our pulmonary care practice under my direct supervision. With her assistance, we are establishing an outpatient respiratory clinic to make sure patients receive timely and appropriate post-hospital care for respiratory complaints and to assist local care providers with immediate post-hospital specialty care. We are also establishing a specialty clinic for the use of monoclonal antibody therapy for the management of difficult-to-treat asthma and COPD as well as for environmental and seasonal allergies. Linda will tell you more in the article that follows. Breathe easy All about 8 yanktonmedicalclinic.com
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