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Eating World's Hottest Pepper Sparks Brain Disorder, Thunderclap Headaches (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Extremely hot peppers don't just blister your mouth and bum -- they can also spark fiery havoc in your brain, according to a report published Monday in BMJ Case Reports. An otherwise healthy 34-year-old man developed a blood-flow disorder in his brain and suffered several debilitating "thunderclap" headaches after entering a hot pepper eating contest, U.S. doctors reported. The man had managed to get down a Carolina Reaper pepper, which in 2013 earned the title of the world's hottest chili by Guinness World Records.
The searing pepper didn't sit well in the chili-eating contestant. Immediately after slaying a Reaper, the man began dry heaving and developed pain in his neck and the back of his skull. That morphed into a diffuse, painful headache. Over the next few days, he experienced thunderclap headaches at least twice -- but likely more, he just couldn't recall exactly. Thunderclap headaches are severe, sudden, with quick pains that strike like a clap of thunder rumbling through your skull. They tend to peak within 60 seconds and can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, altered mental state, seizures, and fever. Their stormy aches can be a sign of serious problems, like bleeding in the brain, a brain infection, or a cerebrospinal fluid leak. The pain was excruciating enough that the man went to the emergency room. But doctors didn't find any immediate problems with him to explain the episodes. He didn't have any slurred speech, loss of vision, neurological deficits, muscle weakness, or tingling. His blood pressure was a little high, but not extremely so, at 134/69 mmHg. Initial CT scans found no problems in his neck and head.
The searing pepper didn't sit well in the chili-eating contestant. Immediately after slaying a Reaper, the man began dry heaving and developed pain in his neck and the back of his skull. That morphed into a diffuse, painful headache. Over the next few days, he experienced thunderclap headaches at least twice -- but likely more, he just couldn't recall exactly. Thunderclap headaches are severe, sudden, with quick pains that strike like a clap of thunder rumbling through your skull. They tend to peak within 60 seconds and can be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, altered mental state, seizures, and fever. Their stormy aches can be a sign of serious problems, like bleeding in the brain, a brain infection, or a cerebrospinal fluid leak. The pain was excruciating enough that the man went to the emergency room. But doctors didn't find any immediate problems with him to explain the episodes. He didn't have any slurred speech, loss of vision, neurological deficits, muscle weakness, or tingling. His blood pressure was a little high, but not extremely so, at 134/69 mmHg. Initial CT scans found no problems in his neck and head.
is hardly evidence. This is speculation, not science.
Maybe we should heed the signals that thousands, if not millions of years of evolution have given some plants/animals the capability to send, and us the benefit of being able to receive?
He is wrong. Take methylmercury for eg. Basically you touch it, your dead.
Or dimethylmercury. If you get one drop on your lab gloves, you're going to die in six months and be convulsing the final months without functioning brain.
Well, for both of those examples, that wouldn't exactly be using it properly, now would it?
Animal abuse, you should be ashamed.
PETA is a -major- animal abuser. Pro tip: you care about animals' rights and well-being, don't support PETA.
Successful troll is successful.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
best advice for everything - don't overdo it.
drinking too much water can kill you.
doesn't mean we all should suddenly stop drinking water.
On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.
All varieties of pepper are nutrient-rich, and the heat will boost the metabolism a bit helping control weight, provide pain relief, help manage diabetes, and directly fights prostate cancer.
I fully agree.
Don't give up on peppers just because overdoing it can cause harm.
Just don't overdo it.
Pepper mad scientists overdid it about 2 million scoville units ago. It was nice back when the habanero was king, and people still enjoyed the taste of a good pepper.
Now the pepper world has morphed into the food equivalent of Jackass.
I don't use anything hotter than habeneros, are the ghost peppers and so on useful for recipes where additional less spicy peppers would be detrimental or is it all just a pissing match?