Q: About two months ago, I was at work, on my third day of a migraine headache. My co-worker and I were eating lunch. I usually avoid sweets during a migraine, but I was craving something cold, so I had some ice cream.

After several bites, I developed terrible brain freeze. When the brain freeze left, so did my migraine!

My migraines are usually most unbearable during the first day, during which I do not feel like eating or drinking due to nausea. Consequently, I don’t know yet if this trick works when the headache is that intense. I drank a frappe the other day when I felt a headache was coming on and it took care of it!

A: Migraine headaches are debilitating. In addition to intense pain, sufferers report nausea, light sensitivity, noise intolerance, difficulty concentrating, insomnia and fatigue. There are many new medications that can be helpful. In addition, some people report benefit from inducing brain freeze.

If ice cream does not work, people have tried other cool foods such as shakes, smoothies, slushies or frappes. Readers report that brain freeze works best if triggered at the first hint of an oncoming migraine.

Q: I have painful osteoarthritis throughout my body. Because I am on the blood thinner Pradaxa for life, I am not able to take aspirin or NSAIDs for the pain.

I have been taking low-dose naltrexone, or LDN, for a few years. I didn’t realize how well it relieved my pain until I went on vacation and forgot to bring it along. I couldn’t wait to get home and get back to my LDN!

My doctor doesn’t really like to prescribe it, but she does because my former doctor, her colleague, did. I’m grateful.

A: Naltrexone was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 1984 under the brand name Trexan. The drug was developed to treat opioid dependence but currently is used primarily for people with alcohol use disorder at a dose of 50 milligrams.

The FDA has not approved the use of low- dose naltrexone (1.5 to 4.5 milligrams), but many practitioners prescribe it for a variety of painful conditions. These include fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disorders and diabetic neuropathy (Journal of Pain Research, June 14, 2023).

Researchers have not studied low-dose naltrexone for osteoarthritis, although some believe it might be helpful (Biomedicines, June 2023). One intriguing study suggests that LDN might also help people with symptoms of long COVID (Clinical Therapeutics, March 2024). Most clinicians will want to see well- conducted randomized clinical trials before prescribing LDN for either long COVID or arthritis, however.

Q: I’m a “lab rat” and microbiologist. Years ago, some scientists discovered that lavender oil soothes a burn quickly. I keep it on hand in my kitchen for household burns and have never seen you mention it.

A: We had never heard of using lavender oil for minor burns. Upon reading your message, we found several articles in PubMed. One group of investigators found that an ointment containing lavender aided wound healing (Journal of Tissue Viability, November 2016). Another group developed a nanoemulsion dressing containing lavender oil specifically for healing burns (Biomaterials Advances, May 2023).

In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Send questions to them via www.peoplespharmacy.com.