Have you ever wondered why you get "brain freeze" when you eat something cold such as ice cream or a milkshake? That sudden pain in your forehead is known in medicine as sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia, and occurs because the abrupt change in temperature in the tissue at the roof of your mouth causes blood vessels to quickly swell in an effort to warm the area back up.
Image by Andy Reid
About.com's Guide to Chemistry, Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D., explains, "The dilation of the blood vessels triggers pain receptors, which release pain-causing prostaglandins, increase sensitivity to further pain, and produce inflammation while sending signals through the trigeminal nerve to alert the brain to the problem. Because the trigeminal nerve also senses facial pain, the brain interprets the pain signal as coming from the forehead. This is called 'referred pain' since the cause of the pain is in a different location from where you feel it."
Check out this brief video in which Dr. Charlotte Grayson explains the phenomenon and offers a few tips on how to avoid brain freeze. Why Do You Get Brain Freeze?
Comments
I always get back freeze rather than brain freeze. I have never heard of anyone else like this. Can you tell me the reason?
i get throat freeze not brain
i get a back freeze too! i cannot find any info on it though, as to why… so glad i am not alone.
You guys are freaks!
Haha i agree! Back freeze?! you should go to the doctor haha
Often I get the brain freeze pain along my spine, lasting as long as the brain freeze does. Does anyone know why this happens? I can’t find any valuable information.
I searched “back freeze” and noticed quite a few people in various forums saying they experience the same thing. While I didn’t find any explanations for this, I wonder if it might be an example of referred pain: http://surgery.about.com/od/glossaryofsurgicalterms/g/ReferredPain.htm
I get back freezes too!!!
I get an eye freeze lol one or both eyes will hurt really bad
I have never had a “brain freeze”, only a a sharp pain in the center of my back. A pain that feels like a knife is stuck in my back. The pain last for no more than a few minutes fortunately. I have spoken to doctors and they say the science behind a “back freeze” is impossible. I think we are a rare group who feel this pain.
I get Throat freezess .
I also got back freeze and can’t find info on it yet
I get a bad headache for hours when I get brain freeze. Unlucky me- brain freeze triggers a migraine.
I get throat freezes as well…I wonder why the freeze points vary…can’t give me the “everyone’s different” excuse, since the throat and back freezes seem to be uncommon!
I got all u guys beat, before I got tonsillitis I would get brain-freeze very easy, but when I got tonsillitis, I started getting nipple-freeze. Every time I had 2 spoonfuls of ice-cream, a cold pain would shoot down to my right nipple. And if doctors think you back-freeze people are crazy, I don’t want to know what they’ll think about me!
I get chest freeze. I have never experienced the symptoms described above. Weird.
I simply just get pain in my temples which often causes back to my back n shoulders I believe from my body tensing up but it sucks. Nipple n back freeze. Don’t believe I’ve experienced that but man that’s interesting.
I also get back freeze . Ur the weirdo not us
i get chest freezes and horible freezes that feel like there behind my left eye but not many brain freezes
My fiancee says I am crazy or some kind of alien because I get back freezes. He had never heard of such a thing until he met me. But now now I know I’m not alone.
I also get a different response. While I do get a mild headache I get a much more pronouced pain that seems to start at the back of the throat, but proceeds quickly down to the centre of my chest. It almost feels like it is travel right down the centre of my body to the extent that I am not sure if I feel in as a back pain or a deep down chest pain.
I saw a neurologist yesterday at Johns Hopkins due to a lot of neurological symptoms, not a head ache. he asked me if I ever got a brain freeze when I eat something cold. I told him sometimes. his diagnosis was that only people with migraines get brain freezes so deal with it. And he is a professor at Johns Hopkins!!!!!
They were laughing at me at work because no one had ever heard of back freeze. I going to show them so they can see that I am not the only one!