RKMBs Forums .::Important::. off topic and offensive posts brain freeze

Why do we get "brain freeze" when drinking something cold? I heard it had to do with the nerves in the stomach that send a message to the brain. Am I on track?

Well, that's not exactly it. Allow me to put you back on the path of righteous knowledge.

Brain freeze, also known as ice cream headache, is experienced by about 30 percent of the general population. What happens, for those of you who haven't suffered, is that your head starts to stab for about 20 seconds after you've wolfed down something good and cold. Ice cream is a common culprit, but Slurpees, really cold soda, and other frosty things can do it to you, too.

According to the British Medical Journal, the pain is usually in the "midfrontal" area, but it can also get you on either side or on the back of your head. In rare cases, it can smart for a whole five minutes, but it's usually over within seconds.

The author of the report is Joseph Hulihan, an assistant professor at the appropriately named Temple University. Hulihan describes an experiment in which a subject placed crushed ice on the roof of his mouth to see if he could give himself brain freeze. Hulihan reports that he did, but only during periods of warm weather. Hmm.

But why, if the ice cream is in your mouth and digestive tract, does your head hurt? It's what is called referred pain, or pain that is felt someplace other than where it is caused. Heart attacks, for example, sometimes cause pain in the left arm. But you know your heart isn't in your arm (although it can sometimes feel as if it's in your mouth or your stomach).

With brain freeze, the cold substance causes pain when it crosses your palate (the roof of your mouth), and this pain is "referred" to your head.

Dear Cecil:

What causes a person to shiver uncontrollably following urination (i.e., "piss shiver")? My friends and I have wrestled with this for years even to the point of consulting medical authorities (they didn't know either). We currently have two theories. One is the Rapid Heat Loss Theory which states that an uncontrollable shiver passes over the body following the rapid loss of several ounces of 98.6 degree liquid. This theory seems to have good face validity but as far as we can tell females do not experience piss shiver, which puts a hole in that idea. Our second theory is the Mini-Orgasm Theory, which states that a man's penis is used for two major activities: urination and sexual activity. When a man urinates, the two functions cross briefly and he experiences a mini-orgasm that causes his body to shiver uncontrollably. Is either one of these correct, or is there a third theory we haven't thought of? Pleae help, Cecil. --Patrick Cormack, Dallas, Texas

Dear Patrick:

I know I promised I wouldn't answer this disgusting question, but my will is weak. Besides, the subject has been debated on alt.fan.cecil-adams off and on for weeks, and even though no firm conclusions have been arrived at (par for the course on the net), the least I can do is give an interim report. We've made progress on one front: someone came up with an impressive-sounding name. Peter H. M. Brooks proposes post-micturition convulsion syndrome, or PMCS. Sure beats "piss shiver." Maybe now we can apply for a big federal grant.

The following key facts have also been unearthed:

1.Women--some, anyway--also experience PCMS.
2.That's it.

Theory productivity has been a little better. Here's what we've got so far:

• Heat loss due to several ounces of warm fluid leaving the body. Maybe, but then why don't we experience it during defecation, vomiting, etc.?
  
• Heat loss due to exposure of the nether regions. Not likely; as one netter points out, babies snugly clothed in diapers may be observed to experience PMCS.
  
• It's caused by the passage of spermatozoa into the urinary canal. Guess that explains why it happens to women.
  
• It dates back to pre-civilization days when men hadn't learned to do their own shaking. Attributed to George Carlin. What a comedian.
  
• It's all the fault of the parasympathetic nervous system. The parasympathetic nervous system is up there with the Babylonians as the default explanation for anything you can't think of a good reason for (e.g., photic sneeze reflex, closing your eyes when you sneeze), but I throw it in for the sake of completeness. Your mini-orgasm theory sounds like a baroque version of this.

End of transmission. Lame, I know, but what are you going to do? Cecil can't figure out everything. I'd convene a special session of the Straight Dope Science Advisory Board, but they're still sleeping it off from our last symposium. Contributions from the Teeming Millions cordially invited.

--CECIL ADAMS

[ 08-05-2001: Message edited by: rufusTfirefly - Cuz Gob's boards are fucked up... ]

[ 08-05-2001: Message edited by: rufusTfirefly - Gob Dammit!!! ]

i'm ... i'm so ashamed...

quote:

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Originally posted by Fat Fool:
I.....feel dirty

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