Head Cold

Ah, summer. Ah, ice cream. Ah, ice cream headache.

That’s right, ice cream headache, known by kids as “brain freeze”--the most common cause of head pain, according to a study in a randomly selected population. One-third of people suffer from this symptom, which occurs in hot weather but, inexplicably enough, not in cold weather.

“The pain begins a few seconds after the rapid ingestion of cold foods or beverages and peaks in 30 to 60 seconds,” writes Joseph Hulihan, a Temple University neurologist, in a recent issue of the British Medical Journal. It’s usually smack in the center of the forehead, but can also be felt on the side of the head or behind the eye. It’s a stabbing or aching sensation that rarely lasts more than two minutes.

Why does it happen? Neurologists think that sensory nerves in the roof of the mouth, reacting to the stimulus of sudden cold, cause constriction of blood vessels elsewhere in the head, triggering the pain.

A similar mechanism is suspected in migraine, which is sometimes provoked by cold. One researcher tried pressing crushed ice against

his palate and found the headache occurred on the side where he applied the cold. Ice in the center of the palate produced pain on both sides.

People bothered by this side effect of summer should slurp their snow cone cautiously to keep the ice away from the major trigger point, the back of the roof of the mouth, Hulihan advises.

They needn’t give the treat up, though: “Ice cream abstinence is not indicated.”