One month of tough breathing may help asthma sufferers breathe easier in the long run with a pharmacology professor relying on a medical taboo to treat asthma. Although counterintuitive, these studies are like hair-of-the-dog folk wisdom — treating like with like — using beta blockers instead of stimulants in asthmatics. Termed “paradoxical pharmacology” — treating patients with medicine that initially worsens their symptoms before eventually improving their overall health — the studies have moved into human clinical trials.