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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.
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.
Don't give up on peppers just because overdoing it can cause harm.
Just don't overdo it.
The summary is perhaps a little misleading, the paper says in the very next sentence that CT angiography turned up reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome which can cause this kind of headache. Since capsaicin can cause arterial constriction, and this started immediately after eating the pepper, they are tentatively assuming a causal relationship.
is hardly evidence. This is speculation, not science.
I pretty sure the brain disorder is wanting to put that shit in your mouth in the first place.
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.
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?
Most days. I have become a big fan of reaper powder sprinkled on stuff. In my experience, the peppers will usually make my headaches (even migraines) go away better than any medicine I've tried, so ymmv...
...when she threw out my music collection.
Red Hot Chili Peppers do rot your brain!
PATIENT: It hurts when I do that.
DOCTOR: Stop doing that!
In some cases, "proper amount" means homeopathatic medicine. I.e. not even an atom of the substance. Also known as placebo medication.
Powerful stuff.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Guy eats neurotoxins. Guy gets brain damage. Somehow I don't see the connection here. Can someone point it out for me? OH WAIT SO HE IS EATING NEUROTOXINS AND HE GETS BRAIN DAMAGE? Well who would'a fucking thunk that could happen?
You're right.
Here, eat this. For science.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Yes, the stuff about hot peppers literally causing physical lesions as if they were thermally hot is folklore. Capsaicin stimulates nerves via the TRPV1 receptor that also responds to heat, and so gives the sensation of burning. It causes no physical changes directly.
As another poster here has noted rare idiosyncratic rashes can occur, but lots of things can cause rashes in some people, it is really an immune system abnormality in the victim.
Starships were meant to fly, Hands up and touch the sky - Nicky Minaj
...win stupid prizes.