Are you eating an ice cream or drinking a cold soda and you feel a sudden pain in your head? Known as “the ice cream headache”, this pain is certainly short but very acute. Update on the causes of this reaction with Dr. Daniel Caroff.
What is “brain freeze”?
The “brain freeze” Where “ice cream headache“intervenes when the head is exposed to cold. This is the case, for example, during a cryotherapy session or when we ingests a cold drink or ice cream too quickly. The contact of cold on the palate makes the person feel a pain or even shooting in the skull or even temples. The pain is short-lived but can be acute.
What possible medical causes?
Dr. Daniel Caroff explains this headache by the cooling followed by very rapid heating of vessels called blood capillaries. These are placed at the level of the sinuses. “The cold then causes a vasoconstriction (the decrease in the diameter of the blood vessels) then, a few seconds later, a vasodilatation (the increase in the caliber of the vessels)“, specifies the doctor. He adds however that certain people have a more developed sensitivity to the cold due to the overexpression of TRPM-8 protein, synthesized from the TRPM-8 gene. This is located at the level of the sensory neurons which act as receptors, and is directly involved in the sensations of cold.
What to do ?
In order to limit this unpleasant sensation, avoid eating too many cold or frozen foodsor taste them slowly.
When to consult?
“If this pain is only related to the cold, there is no need to consult because the doctor will not undertake diagnostic research and will not offer a remedy.” On the other hand, if the headaches appear after taking certain medications (to heal high blood pressure for example), it will be possible to think of modify treatment.
Thanks to Dr Daniel Caroff, general practitioner and naturopath.