On 6/15/2012 11:35 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 16/06/2012 12:27 AM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> On Fri, 15 Jun 2012 19:41:25 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>>
>
>>> What’s a headache?
>>
>> Oh, I think you know what a headache is.
>
> Not from personal experience.
>
>> Read a bunch of posts that
>> could be answered with "GIYF" and then find a brick wall to bang your
>> head against.
>>
>> That'll surely cause one. ;)
>>
>
> I would say that that would give you a sore head as opposed to the
> headaches that I have read about. I seem to remember that I did have one
> when I was a child but that is a memory of a memory, now. Very
> occasionally, once every couple of years, I get an ice pick headache
> which lasts less than a second. I don’t think that really counts though
> as they don’t last long enough to have any debilitating effect.
> Incidentally, I don’t get hangovers, either. And it is not that I don’t
> drink ;-)
>
Read an interesting article that might kind of explain that, possibly. 
Betting you don't experience "brain freeze" from cold drinks much 
either? See, seems that, in some people, the vein that runs up the neck, 
and into the brain, close to the spine, can try to "over protect". It 
opens wider than normal, expanding enough that it triggers pain, in 
order to increase blood flow, as a counter to what is assumed to be a 
decrease in critical temperature. Caffeine, among other things, dilates 
the blood vessels, I think? So, going off it, for some people, may 
restrict blood flow, and again, you get an over-counter reaction.

Or, so the theory goes, based on watching the changes due to the brain 
freeze effect, and noting a strong correlation between people that get 
migraines, and their susceptibility to suffering that effect (i.e., they 
get hit with it much faster, and much harder, when exposing themselves 
to cold drinks). It kind of makes sense that other "spike in the head" 
type headaches, short, or long term, are a result of this one blood 
source overcompensating for an assumed threat. And, it makes sense that 
some people's brains may recognize the overreaction, and curtail it, 
much quicker than others.

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