I'm sure many of you have experienced "brain freeze" when eating ice ream to fast.  The pain is similar to CH, I think.  It appears there has been a break-through in understanding brain freeze.  Perhaps the understanding of CH can benefit from this?


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This increase in flow and resulting increase in size in this artery brought on the pain associated with brain freeze.

When the artery constricts, reining in the response to this increased flow, the pain disappears. The dilation, then quick constriction, of this blood vessel may be a type of self-defense for the brain, the researchers suggested

Which brings us back to the dilation/constriction theory! Very interesting article, thanks for posting. ;)

Joe

I was really impressed when I was reading of a Doctor teaching med students about clusters.  He brought all his students out for ice cream and got them to eat it fast enough to give them all brain freeze.  Then he said something to the effect of "imagine this doesn't go away--this is what cluster headache is like and this is why you need to treat your patient with urgency."  Should be required when they teach about clusters!

I like that doc!!!  I wish all new doctors heard something like that.

Jerry

Relating a brain freeze,  which almost everyone has had,  to a friend, co-worker or stranger who has never felt the pain of a CH is a fairly good enough analogy to try to make people know what this feels like.  Obviously, I've had both and a brain freeze hurts like hell, but CH pain is far more of a burning hot pain.  Red hot poker in the eye, while a brain freeze is more of a intense ache.   I do think there's a difference.

I don't mean to be picky just that well....I guess I am being picky.   LOL

Fascinating conversation and article.  When I had my first cycle last fall I used the brain freeze analogy to tell people what I was going through - I think its a useful example, if not quite perfect.

Interesting article.

A question of others though; I can still get brain freeze when say belting down an icy cold Red Bull BUT only on my non cluster side, since I went chronic I have never had a brain freeze on my cluster side.

Just wondering if this happens to others as well?

Cheers
Barry

Hey, Barry. I also get a brain freeze when chugging on a Monster double. Seems to me it's on the affected side (for me, the right) but I'll pay more attention next time...if I can...I'm usually busy trying to abort the hit. Interesting thought, though. blessings. lance

I like my ice cream a lot and often. I also eat it too fast somtimes. My brain freeze is always on the right side and my clusters are lefties. The good thing about brain freeze is they only last about 10 seconds (but seem much longer).

I think it may be a good comparison due to the intensity of the pain and the quickness that it arrives with.

To people with tattos, it's alot easier for me to explain to, I tell them it would feel like getting a tatoo on my eyeball.

Coach Bill

Just had a big frozen drink from Starbucks... gulped it down fast and got a "brain freeze" on the right side of my head... I kinda chuckled to myself and thought it funny that how I never get any sensations like that on my right side (all my cluster headaches are 100% my left side)... then I had a bit of an insight... that 20 second brain freeze actually lit up all the same pain locations as my real ones (though it is more like a cold tickle compared to an actually attack)... so I Googled it... very interesting stuff...

cluster-headache.blogspot.ca/2008/02/interesting-tid-bit-from-nyu-science.html

bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/08/19/4929146-brain-freeze-the-agony-and-ecstasy-of-ice-cream?lite

-GG

Hi all

Here's another and more comprehensive article on brain freeze. Apparently migraine sufferers are more likely to experience them. I suppose that goes for cluster heads as well. I myself find the nature of the pain too similiar to ignore.

Why does ice cream freeze our brain?
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