We should be careful not to trivialize the intense suffering some migraine and cluster victims go through, but as I recall Icecream headaches were some of the most intense headache pain I had felt before I started getting clusters, so using them as a point of reference like Dr. Altschuler seems to me like a very good idea.

Just feel lucky the next time you get one that they only last for a very short while… then go hug a migraine or cluster sufferer. :)

Doc.
http://cluster-headache.blogspot.com/

I propose a differing hypothesis: that the ice cream actually contracts the blood vessles leading to the brain and that; along with the minor freeze and subsequent thawing of an area that is not normally exposed to such temperatures is the sole cause of the pain. rather like frost nip on your fingers, but in a more sensitive area.

The reason I have to disagree is that I find in my experience, when i get a migraine that even the big gun drugs will only partially dull, my only temporary relief, albeit fleeting, is to give myself ice cream or slushie brain freezes and for the duration of the freeze, my migraine will release its torturous grip on my head.

-Magdalene
(c) 2007 goddess inc

Thank you,

Ray Schwartz