Ice cream headache

From what I read about "ice cream headaches" (a.k.a. brain freezes",
are caused by a nerve in ones throat being frozen causing pain to the
nerve there, and it sends a message to the brain to tell your brain such.

I've found (not just in me) that if you apply your hand over your
throat which is the same as applying heat, the pain goes away almost
instantly because the nerve is being warmed up. What do you think of that?

Competing interests:  
None declared

I read Joseph Hulihan's article about brain freeze and ice-cream
headaches at http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/314/7091/1364
and I must say I'm highly skeptical. I'm not skeptical that they occur--
I've experienced them commonly until age 28-29 or so, and they have
strangely vanished. I'm skeptical of the explanation. I don't buy that
they are a referred pain by any means, for several reasons. However, I
will attempt to address this in an organized fashion.

To start with, I've experienced similar phenomenon in other parts of
the body in buildings lacking a hot-water heater during winter months:

1. Washing one's hands with near-freezing water can induce the
similar results--one might call it "heart freeze." Not only is there a
delayed reaction (perhaps 5-10 seconds) as mentioned in the above article,
but one can actually feel the cold travel from the hands through the arms
to the heart.

And what would be the medium of transportation? Well, let's ask this
question: What bodily substance circulates from an organ to the outermost
extremities and back every 30 seconds? Give up? Blood. I would
hypothesize that the cooled blood in the hands travels to the heart in a
matter of seconds producing the above-described phenomenon. Also, it must
be mentioned that the freeze pulsates with each beat of the heart.

2. In showers without hot water in the winter months, those so
unlucky to experience may attest, near-freezing water applied to the upper
back can be felt to travel (perhaps through the now-cooled bloodstream) to
the brain to experience a similar brain freeze to the well known "ice
cream headache". This brand of brain-freeze is, however, less intenze and
less localized, and may almost be discribed as exhilarating. Also, it
must be mentioned that this sensation pulsates with each beat of the
heart.
If one is lucky, their metabolism will immediately kick up a couple of
notches to adapt (Remember this word metabolism, as in the study the
headaches were more likely at certain times of the year).

My final hypothesis, one not refuted or otherwise addressed in the
article, is that the ice cream headache is also transported through the
blood stream. We all agree that common brain-freeze occurs when the
agents are swallowed or otherwise fixed near the rear of the mouth:

"Applying crushed ice to the palate, he found that ipsilateral
temporal and orbital pain developed 20-30 seconds later. Bilateral pain
occurred when the stimulus was applied in the midline. The headache could
be elicited only in hot weather; attempts to reproduce the pain during the
winter were unsuccessful, even with use of a cold stimulus of the same
temperature."

Is it not true that the superficial temporal artery passes right by
the palate? Not everyone has a 20-30 second delay. For many it is closer
to 3-5 seconds, about as much time as it would take the blood in the above
-mentioned artery to travel from the area behind the palate to the
forehead. Ouch! What is more interesting, is the pain will more quickly
abate if a person places a warm palm against the forehead. Instant
relief!

As for the differences in hot & cold weather. Have you ever
noticed the little candles they hand out for Midnight Christmas services
burn like the Dickens in December. However, if handed one at a teen camp
meeting in July, you can drip the wax all over your hands without being
hurt once. Temperature sensitivity is relative--it has to do with what
your body is acclimated to, or your metabolism. In the above-mentioned
article the SAME temperature was applied at DIFFERENT times of the year,
and we are still scratching our heads to figure out why it didn't elicit
the same response because...of...what???

I'm not sure why in my own life ice-cream headaches are mostly a
thing of the past. Joseph Hulihan's article also seemed to indicate
children are more familiar with or more susceptible to ice cream
headaches. Perhaps something changes as we mature. Heart disease is in
my family's medical history--extra insulation on the superficial temporal
artery, perhaps (laymans terminology for "one would hypothesize")?

I'm not a scientist or a doctor, but I'm confident that one with
these credentials, funding, and instrumentation could address the topic
more fully by addressing my hypotheses. Until categorically refuted, I
find these explanations far more palatable (pun not actually intended)
than to continue to say it is 'referred pain'. Beyond the curiosity value
of this topic, it may be necessary to discern what risk there may be to
inducing chilled blood into the brain, rather than telling the public
"don't worry, don't abstain" In the end, ingesting cold substances more
slowly may be a more prudent counsel.

The simple and for sure way to cure brain freeze is to put the bottom
of your tounge on the roof of your mouth. This works everytime for me and
for the people that I have shared this with. I have yet to hear someone
tell me that this method does not work. Try it!!!!!

A Theory concerning possible origins of "Ice Cream Headache"

Responses to low temperature liquids/foods in the mouth induce
reactions in the proximate adjacent tissues. Among these, constriction of
the blood vessels and therefore increases in the pressure (back-pressure)
& velocity of blood in the adjacent/collateral shunting pathways
"upstream" in the arterial feeds. Sinusoidal mucosae apparently take up
much of the pressure owing to their elasticity & relatively high
content of capillary beds. These capillary beds are also richly invested
with nerve endings.

Further, such an exposure concommitant with an inflammation of the
sinusoidal mucosae as in instances of influenza, allergic reactions
affecting the nasal, frontal and antral facial sinuses, fungal sinusitis,
et al, are probable to be perceived more acutely due to reduced capacity
of the mucosae to swell further, and inability of the capillaries to take
up more volume at pressure.