Senin, 23 April 2012

Here's a scoop: 'Ice-cream headache' could help search for new painkillers

Here's a scoop: 'Ice-cream headache' could help search for new painkillers

By Fiona Macrae

PUBLISHED: 19:14 EST, 22 April 2012 | UPDATED: 01:43 EST, 23 April 2012


If biting into ice cream gives you a headache, blame a rush of blood to the head.

Ice cream headache, the crushing pain experienced when ice cream or another bitterly cold food or drink hits the roof of the mouth, has baffled scientists.

But now they may have it licked, in an advance that could lead to new treatments for other types of headache, including migraine.

Ice cream headache, the crushing pain experienced when ice cream or another bitterly cold food or drink hits the roof of the mouth, has baffled scientists.

Ice cream headache, the crushing pain experienced when ice cream or another bitterly cold food or drink hits the roof of the mouth, has baffled scientists

A major American conference heard that headaches have proved hard to study - partly due to their unpredictable nature.

An ‘ice cream headache’, however, is easy to trigger and so can be studied in the lab from start to finish.

To do this, researchers from Harvard Medical School in the US, tracked blood flow to the brain while people drank iced water or lukewarm water.

Pugh

Both were drunk through a straw that was pressed against the roof of the mouth and the volunteers signalled when the pain started and when it ended.

Results showed that the pain coincided with an artery called the anterior cerebral artery opening up and flooding the brain with blood.

It then constricted and pain receded, the Experimental Biology conference heard.

Harvard researcher Jorge Serrador said the rush of blood could be a self-defence mechanism, designed to keep the brain warm and working.

However, the sudden flood of blood likely raises pressure inside the skull and so causes pain.

To stop pressure reaching dangerous levels, the artery constricts, bringing pressure back down.

It is hoped that a better understanding of the phenomenon, which is also known as brain freeze will lead to better treatments for migraines and other types of headache.

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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I have never had brain freeze or ice cream headache. Is that normal?

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This is nothing new. Whenever I get a migraine, I rub an ice cube on my inside wrists and over my forehead and at the top of my nose. The pain goes away. Unfortunately, when I stop using the ice cubes, the pain comes right back.!! So,.... freezing does help pain but it's not long lasting. If somebody can up up with a PERMANENT solution then I'd love them forever.

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It takes a load of scientists to tell us this . I get ice cream headache so when eating any ice cream or a cold drink I always always make sure that it doesn't go on the roof of my mouth and if it does by mistake I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth to warm it up quickly as I figured out that blood rushes to the head with anything cold pressed to it . I mean don t we put ice on bruises etc when we want blood to rush there to mend the damage. Can I have a well paid job as a scientist please.

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I have found that if your uvula gets too cold you get the brain freeze. Warming the uvula with warm water helps immediately. Uvula is that thing that dangles in the back of your throat to prevent you drowning when you drink.

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How about if the testicle submerged in ice water or there is acute pain in the big toe, when the blood flow is affected. ?

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