# No ice cream headache? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [November 15, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498 "2007-11-15T05:09:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/1 "2007-11-15T05:09:55Z")
I was stunned by [Cecil’s Ice Cream Headache Column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_126.html). It’s hard to believe that 2/3 of all people do not get them. I can’t remember anyone ever saying “I don’t get those” when they’ve come up in conversation. I certainly get them. Can anyone step forward and say, “I don’t get those?” ---
**Author:** ![Katrina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/df705f/32.png) [@Katrina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katrina)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/2 "2007-11-15T07:37:08Z")
[QUOTE=Yllaria] I was stunned by [Cecil’s Ice Cream Headache Column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_126.html). It’s hard to believe that 2/3 of all people do not get them. I can’t remember anyone ever saying “I don’t get those” when they’ve come up in conversation. I certainly get them. Can anyone step forward and say, “I don’t get those?” [/QUOTE] I get them easily but my boyfriend has never experienced them and he has tried, it hurt watching him. be interesting to know why some people do and some don’t. bone or cartilage density(he is pretty thick headed) perhaps nerve endings aren’t so close to the roof of mouth? ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/3 "2007-11-15T08:00:36Z")
[QUOTE=cecil] Ice cream headache occurs in maybe a third of the general population but in over 90 percent of migraine sufferers, who feel it in the same place they get migraines. (Many migraine victims take precautions with frozen desserts for just that reason.) Researchers believe migraine and ice cream headache are physiologically similar, the difference being that migraine sufferers are abnormally sensitive to stimuli the rest of us ignore. As for what would happen if you applied the cold continuously, I imagine a migraine sufferer could give you a pretty graphic description. I don’t expect it’d be fun. [/QUOTE] So is that what a migraine feels like? For hours? I cannot imagine the horror. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/4 "2007-11-15T08:06:06Z")
Sometimes my teeth get hurty when I eat ice cream. I don’t think I’ve ever had the ice cream headache. Granted, I’m not really into ice cream, so I only eat it sparingly. That could have more to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/5 "2007-11-15T16:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=Zoggie] Sometimes my teeth get hurty when I eat ice cream. I don’t think I’ve ever had the ice cream headache. Granted, I’m not really into ice cream, so I only eat it sparingly. That could have more to do with it. [/QUOTE] That post could have been written by me. I associate ice cream with tooth pain, but I’ve never had an “ice-cream headache”. Maybe those of us with sensitive teeth eat ice cream more carefully, and take smaller bites, and so avoid the headache? ---
**Author:** ![Fender](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fender)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/6 "2007-11-15T16:22:39Z")
Oh yeah, I get a brainfreeze from ice cream. Also from Slushies, Starbucks Frappacinos, etc. I’ve found the fastest and best way to get rid of them is to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, on the palate. You’ll feel it’s very cold. Keep your tongue there for a moment until it warms and the brainfreeze will miraculously disappear. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/7 "2007-11-15T16:53:46Z")
I do not get brainfreezes or ice cream headaches. I tend to chew cold desserts, so that might help. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/8 "2007-11-15T19:08:17Z")
I have never gotten an ice cream headache, either. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/9 "2007-11-15T19:30:27Z")
I’ve never had an ice cream headache, and neither has my husband. One of my sons gets them so bad it almost hurts _me_ to watch him; the other never does. We’re not sure how the one poor kid ended up with the mutant ice-cream-headache gene. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/10 "2007-11-15T20:42:22Z")
When I was a kid, I’d get them often. Now, only rarely. Maybe I just eat the stuff slower. My mother and older brother got migraines. I started getting ocular migraines as an adult when my job got extremely stressful. I am sensitive to nitrites. More than 1-2 strips of bacon and I get a headache that lasts for 2-3 days. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/11 "2007-11-15T23:39:31Z")
For me, it feels like someone has jammed an icepick into my eyeball. ---
**Author:** ![TupeloHoney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@TupeloHoney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TupeloHoney)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/12 "2007-11-16T01:23:50Z")
[QUOTE=Fender] Oh yeah, I get a brainfreeze from ice cream. Also from Slushies, Starbucks Frappacinos, etc. I’ve found the fastest and best way to get rid of them is to put your tongue on the roof of your mouth, on the palate. You’ll feel it’s very cold. Keep your tongue there for a moment until it warms and the brainfreeze will miraculously disappear. [/QUOTE] I am the same way - I get brainfreezes from anything cold and icy. I haven’t tried this trick yet but next time I will. I’m sure it will happen sometime soon though! ---
**Author:** ![KentD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7ab992/32.png) [@KentD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KentD)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/13 "2007-11-16T02:29:41Z")
I get them, and I have to dispute Cecil’s answer. My hypothesis: An ice cream headache is a spasm or cramp of the Lower Esophageal Sphincter (the ring of muscle at the bottom of your esophagus just before your stomach) caused by the cold food going by, and then possibly some of the cold food getting stuck behind the spasm. To test this hypothesis, get an ice cream headache, and then drink some warm tap water. You will feel the water hit the Lower Esophageal Sphincter, and you will have instant relief. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2007, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/14 "2007-11-16T20:50:06Z")
. Well, that’s great and all, but can you explain why a LES cramp would cause pain behind the eyeballs? Seems to me a more likely explanation for the relief you get–and I agree, your technique works–would be the passage of warm water across the palate. . ---
**Author:** ![Achren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/15 "2007-11-19T07:25:49Z")
I never get them, but I do get migraines. My dad, who doesn’t get migraines, does get ice cream headaches. How interesting. ---
**Author:** ![tonedef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@tonedef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonedef)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/16 "2007-11-19T11:30:20Z")
I always get them when i get carried away drinking a purple slurpe! I don’t know anyone IRL that doesn’t get them. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/17 "2007-11-19T13:37:46Z")
My wife and her brother do not get them. In fact she never even heard of them until one night when we were still dating and I got one. She thought I was crazy that this was a common occurrence. I was dumbfounded that she never heard of them. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/18 "2007-11-19T15:20:56Z")
Well, that’s a lot of evidence (anecdotal, but that’s what I was looking for - anecdotal is so satisfying) that some people never get them. [QUOTE=Renee] So is that what a migraine feels like? For hours? I cannot imagine the horror. [/QUOTE] My migraines weren’t as sharp, but to make up for being slightly duller, they added in sensitivity to light, sound, and smells, and a good jolt of nausea. On the up side, I knew that when I threw up, it was half over. And people concede that you may be sick when you throw up in ways that they don’t when you just say it hurts. Still getting my mind around people not being suseptable to brain freezes. But there it is. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/19 "2007-11-20T05:01:20Z")
[QUOTE=andros] . Well, that’s great and all, but can you explain why a LES cramp would cause pain behind the eyeballs? Seems to me a more likely explanation for the relief you get–and I agree, your technique works–would be the passage of warm water across the palate. . [/QUOTE] I know that wikipedia’s value is questionable at best, but while reading the page on[pain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_and_nociception) I found this quote: " The popularized term “brain freeze” is another example of referred pain, in which the vagus nerve is cooled by cold inside the throat." Further wiki investigation gleans nothing more, as their own page on “brain freeze” never refers to the vagus nerve at all, rather indicating that the hard palate is the culprit. I also realize that this has nothing to do with a LES cramp, I merely post the quote as a curiosity found in unrelated research, and an indication that there is a “throat related” hypothesis out there somwhere. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498/20 "2007-11-20T12:24:23Z")
This has been the first time I’ve heard of such a thing. I never have had them, now know anybody who does. Mom has migraines but ice cream does definitely not trigger them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-ice-cream-headache/426498.md?page=2)