Brain freeze (sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia) is an excruciating head pain when eating something cold.
It is also called ice cream headache because it correlates with extremely cold foods, like frozen treats.
Medically speaking, brain freeze is classified as a cold-stimulus headache.
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Brain freeze affects thevascularandnervous systems.
They then reopen quickly, triggering a pain signal in the brain.
This article explains brain freeze symptoms, causes, diagnosis, prevention, and how to cope.
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Brain Freeze Symptoms
Brain freeze takes place if you eat something cold.
A study of 618 people found that 51% of participants experienced brain freeze.
Frigid temperatures in the mouth or environment cause brain freeze.
Diagnosis
You wont require a formal diagnosis for brain freeze most of the time.
Thats because the cause and effect are often so obvious and the symptoms short-lived.
However, the International Headache Society (IHS) has diagnostic criteria for cold-stimulus headaches.
They include:
After eating something very cold, sudden, intense headache pain is often a brain freeze.
This vascular change sends a pain signal to the brain, resulting in a headache.
Brain freeze is short-lived, often resolving within 10 minutes after you stop eating.
Fortunately, brain freeze is short-lived, often resolving when you stop eating.
Therefore, no treatment is usually necessary.
However, keep in mind that not all sudden, severe headaches are benign.
Sometimes they can indicate something serious like a stroke or a tumor.
2018;38(1):1-211. doi:10.1177/0333102417738202
Johns Hopkins Medicine.How to ease brain freeze.
