Why is it???

[homerhassall]

Why is it when you go too fast at a 'slush' drink it results in a severe pain just above the eye which passes after about 10 seconds. Know it'll be something to do with the cold but why above the eye?
Stupid I know but it's one of those silly things that's had me wonderin or......is it just me? Yikes

[Elmo]

it'll just be brain freeze, the nerve endingd on ur palette are connected to somewhere above your eye and thats why you feel the pain up there. Just a guess, i didnt stay awake long enough in neuroscience last term to know, sorry

found a link here

also:

What causes brain-freeze – you know, that agonising pain you get when eating an ice-cream or slurpee too fast?
Adrian, by email

MARK PILKINGTON: Surprisingly for such a common ailment, nobody's very certain why some of us have to suffer every time we guzzle an ice-cream. One thing we do know for sure is that it's a referred pain, one that's felt in a different part of the body to the actual point of origin – in this case usually around the front of the head and the eye sockets. The pain usually lasts no more than 25 seconds, though in very rare cases has been known to continue for up to five minutes.

There seem to be two main schools of thought here: one is that the pain originates in the sinuses, which moisten your breath as it heads down into your lungs. A large lump of ice-cream might cause the air inside them to chill very quickly, thus triggering the pain receptors that set alarm bells ringing in your head. More commonly accepted is the theory that the cold causes constriction of the blood vessels in the palate (top) and rear of the mouth. This either causes pain receptors there to freak out or, perhaps, a nerve bundle to overcompensate and try to warm your brain by increasing blood flow to it. Interestingly, masochistic self-experimenting scientists found that the pain only occurred in hot weather, suggesting that brain-freeze only happens when the sudden drop in temperature is unexpected and causes your nervous system to overcompensate. Avoiding brain-freeze is pretty easy – keep ice-cold substances away from the roof of your mouth and eat them more slowly.

A reader responds!

It has been established that individuals that suffer from migraine headaches are more prone to brain freeze than others. Migraine hedaches are actually caused by certain blood vessels in the brain that are convulsing. This causes a release of fluid into the sorrounding brain tissue.

My neurologist also says there is an inability to process seratonin. (Ecstasy releases all the seratonin in your brain at once. This might kill a severe migraine sufferer). Anyway, I mentioned the blood vessel theory to him about brain freeze and that's the one he goes with.

Ed Gordan

(cant link to it cos it's on a seriously dodgy site )

[Areku]

I do believe you are refering to a brain freeze. As to why it happens....i dont know

[homerhassall]

Ta Guys

Least it's not just me. Brain freeze eh? presupposes one has one of course LOL