Question
Hello.

I've heard a rumor more than once in my life about a method to alleviate a brain freeze is to take whatever it is that you're eating that's causing the freeze and press it against your forehead.  For example, if you're eating a slushy, and it give you a brain freeze, pressing the slushy cup against your forehead will alleviate the pain.

Is there any truth to this?

Thank you,

Matt C.

Answer
?Brain freeze is something that many people can relate to. I am fortunate to say that I have never experienced the pain of brain freeze, despite my frequent consumption of the ice cold Slurpee drink.

?Brain freeze is an intense stabbing headache-like pain that occurs after consuming something cold, and it affects about 30 percent of the population.

?Your brain DOES NOT actually freeze. NO damage is caused by brainfreeze.

?7-Eleven registered the term "brainfreeze" in 1994 to communicate the painful joy of drinking a frozen Slurpee beverage.

?Brainfreeze is also known as an "Ice Cream Headache", and "Frozen Brain Syndrome"

?Simply put, Brainfreeze occurs when the Slurpee (or anything cold) touches the roof of your mouth, the collection of nerves in the roof of your mouth (called the spheno-palantine ganglion) go into a spasm (a spasm is like a cramp). These nerves tell the brain blood vessels to get bigger or "dilate". When our brain's blood vessels get big, we get headaches.

?So, the best way to avoid getting brainfreeze is to keep the Slurpee from the roof of your mouth.

?The pain of brainfreeze begins a few seconds after the rapid ingestion of cold foods or beverages (such as ice cream or slurpees or yellow snow)and peaks in 30-60 seconds, and can last up to 5 minutes.

?The Phenemenon is further explained in an article by Joseph Hulihan :

?The pain is usually located in the midfrontal area, but can be unilateral in the temporal, frontal, or retro-orbital region.

?It is a stabbing or aching type of pain that recedes 10-20 seconds after its onset. Rarely, it can persist for two to five minutes

?Some Studies suggest that brainfreeze is more common in people who experience migraines. Raskin and Knittle found this to be the case, with brainfreeze occurring in 93% of migraine sufferers and in only 31% of controls

?Other studies found that it's more common in people without migraines. These inconsistencies may be due to differences in subject selection杢he subjects of the first study were drawn from a hospital population, whereas the controls in the second were student volunteers.

?Ice cream headache has been studied as an example of referred pain. Experimenting on himself, Smith found that:

?Ipsilateral temporal and orbital pain developed 20-30 seconds later after crushed iced was placed on the palette.
?Bilateral pain occurred when the stimulus was applied in the midline
?The headache could be elicited only in hot weather
?Attempts to reproduce the pain during the winter were unsuccessful, even with use of a cold stimulus of the same temperature.
?Bird et al found a similar relation with respect to site of application of the cold substance and ipsilateral occurrence of the resultant pain Some of their subjects also experienced an associated toothache.

?Raskin has suggested that ice cream headache may represent a model of migraine, in that both encompass disordered thresholds to sensory stimuli.

?No treatment is usually required, and sufferers rarely seek medical attention.

An odd idea or two....

?Some people actually enjoy brainfreeze. I've been told that it can take away a headache.

?Believe it or not, but some people also find it orgasmic... seriously.

Tips for alleviating brainfreeze

?To relieve the pain of brainfreeze, try pressing your tongue onto the roof of your mouth. For some reason, this works (Submitted)

?Try Holding your breath during a brainfreeze, For some reason, this makes it go away faster. (submitted)

?Try taking a sip or two of a warm beverage, such as hot water, hot chocolate, or even coffee, when the brainfreeze hits. This seems to get rid of the pain quickly for some people. (submitted)

?A good cure for really bad brain freezes: Close your eyes and press your fingers GENTLY on your eyes so that your fingertips are resting between your eyeball and browbone. Breathe deeply. Wait calmly for the brainfreeze to pass. (submitted)

?Pinch your nose with your thumb and forefinger. At the same time try blowing through your nose (not too hard) and mouth (with mouth closed). Allow a little air to escape from your nose/and or mouth. Keep the pressure up by continuing to blow. (submitted by steve)

from:  http://www.myslurpeecup.com/brainfreeze.html

Hope this helped,

Margot