Brrrrrrrrain Freeze!

A brain freeze is a common affliction in summer. When a brain freeze happens, it is very painful, and while it may only last about a half minute, that half minute feels like an eternity.

When we consume something cold, like ice cream, a popsicle or an ice slushy, one of the first places it touches is the palate, or the roof of our mouth. Our palates contain nerves and blood vessels and it is their reaction to cold that gives us this brief period of excruciating, freezing pain.

When a cold object touches the middle of the palate, the cold temperature causes nerves to communicate to the blood vessels, telling them to increase blood flow to the head. It is this quick swelling of the blood vessels that causes our head to hurt.

Here’s a quick tip to avoid or limit a brain freeze: When you eat or drink something cold, simply keep it away from your palate. If this fails, try to warm up the area by touching your tongue to the palate, holding your breath or consuming something warm.

The dreaded brain freeze is just one type of headache. Are all the other headaches caused by swollen blood vessels, too?

Sadly, all headaches aren’t as easily understood as a brain freeze. Headaches are so complex they are placed in three different categories: primary, secondary and cranial neuralgias. Primary headaches include migraine, tension and cluster headaches. Secondary headaches are caused by a structural problem in the head or neck. Cranial neuralgias are caused by inflammation of nerves in the head and upper neck. 

Secondary and cranial neuralgias are specific and complex medical conditions.

Tension and migraine headaches — of the primary sort — are the two most common types of headaches and are similar in a couple ways. Both tension and migraine headaches are somewhat a mystery to medical professionals in that the experts do not really understand what causes them, but they do know there are triggers for them.

Triggers for tension headaches include stress, depression, anxiety, poor posture and jaw clenching. Migraine triggers can be hormonal changes, certain foods, stress, sensory stimuli, changes in sleep patterns and environment, physical factors and some medications.

To relieve these types of headaches simply warming up your palate will not work. There are prescription and over-the-counter medications for migraines, and over-the-counter medicines can work with tension headaches. Like all over-the-counter drugs, they are only relieving the symptoms temporarily, so if you are medicating a lot, it is recommended that you check with a doctor to see if a prescribed medication would offer a better alternative.

If reading about headaches has been one of your triggers, and you now have a headache, I sincerely apologize! Maybe you would like to have a say in what I write about next month. If so, find us on Facebook and cast your vote.