# Why have I never had an ice cream headache? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 31, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238 "2015-05-31T03:53:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/21 "2015-05-31T19:22:55Z")
Wow, all of you are lucky – the never experienced it people and the five seconds of pain people. I get a severe ice cream headache every time I drink a frozen drink, and frequently when I eat ice cream. It is extremely painful, and lasts much longer than five seconds. It feels like I’m being stabbed in the head. I just had one of my favorites, a frozen iced mango, yesterday, and the experience was not pleasant (but still worth it). It usually comes on after the first few sips, lasts a minute or two, and only happens once. After I let it subside, I’m able to continue drinking or eating with only minor discomfort. If you figure out why you don’t get them, let me know. I’m hoping we can come up with a cure. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/22 "2015-05-31T19:43:54Z")
I should have added that it only happens to me if I consume the cold drink/ice cream too quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/23 "2015-05-31T21:50:27Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > I should have added that it only happens to me if I consume the cold drink/ice cream too quickly. Agreed. It’s Slurpees and other crushed-ice drinks that do it to me, if I drink it from a straw, and drink it fast. The jet of ice-coldness right at the top of the palate is what does the deed. For me, the pain is localized, right there: at the top of the palate, but “above” it, upward just a teense, at the bottom of the brain-pan. ---
**Author:** ![eclectic\_wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ac91a4/32.png) [@eclectic\_wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eclectic_wench)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/24 "2015-05-31T22:43:10Z")
Never had ice-cream headache, get occasional migraines. I assumed it was because of how I eat ice cream: slowly, in small licks, savouring it. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a big bite of ice cream, so no big lump of freezing stuff is hitting the roof of my mouth. The one time my kid got brain freeze, she’d just taken a huge bite. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/25 "2015-05-31T23:04:36Z")
I’ve never had this and it doesn’t seem to be a thing in Britain. I am wondering if US freezers are habitually kept at a lower temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/26 "2015-05-31T23:27:37Z")
That wouldn’t explain slurpees and freezees: the freezing temperature of water is the same pretty much everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/27 "2015-05-31T23:30:07Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > That wouldn’t explain slurpees and freezees: the freezing temperature of water is the same pretty much everywhere. True nuff. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/28 "2015-05-31T23:32:55Z")
Yeah, “headache” is a misnomer because it’s not really like your traditional headache. You may have had a mild one and never known it. For me, it’s experienced in the top, back of my head as a sharp pressure that seems to last longer than it does-- 5 to 10 seconds, max. You can tell it’s related to whatever cold substance was in your mouth, and you definitely know not to eat/drink any more of it until the pain is gone. ---
**Author:** ![HeXen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@HeXen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeXen)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/29 "2015-06-01T00:01:01Z")
Never had one either, I was always smart enough to eat it slowly. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/30 "2015-06-01T01:01:39Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > That’s not how mine feels. It’s intense stab of pain, right in the middle of the forehead. It last for about 5 seconds. Hmm, I would call it discomfort rather than pain. I guess if everyone is feeling something different it may be that some people don’t even realise they’re experiencing it. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/31 "2015-06-01T03:01:34Z")
Heh! What I’m describing, at least, is PAIN! On the scale of one frowny face to ten frowny faces…five or six. Very, very similar to the sharp pain you can get when you fall and bang the side of your skull against a hard floor. (These two kinds of pain are so similar, this is what leads me to think it’s a similar disturbance of the nerve-heavy lining of the brain. Meninges.) ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/32 "2015-06-01T03:07:06Z")
My wife, who has never gotten brain freeze, attributes it to being the next evolutionary step on the road to Homo Superior. ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/33 "2015-06-01T03:50:33Z")
I also have never had a brain-freeze headache. But if I consume a Slushie too quickly, my throat will feel like it is closing up a bit, and it HURTS LIKE HELL. After about 15 seconds or so, my throat warms back up and the pain stops, but I am very careful to back off when I feel my throat starting to react to the cold drink. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/34 "2015-06-01T15:46:06Z")
My late husband never had a brain freeze either. I almost fell over the first time I saw him take a huge bite directly out of an ice cream cone. I looked at the theories about nerves in the soft palate being responsible for the sensation and concluded that the area was wired differently in him, and others who don’t get the sensation? Me?_Oooof_, that shit hurts! ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/35 "2015-06-02T05:20:55Z")
I’ve never had a brain-freeze headache or a migraine. I get tension headaches occasionally, but thankfully that’s about it. If I got brain freeze now, I’d probably convince myself I had a brain tumor or something. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/36 "2015-06-02T14:50:59Z")
Never got them from ice cream, it was always the just above freezing liquids drank too fast. If you’ve never had one try getting a slurpee/slushie and suck it down quickly with a straw. I’ve always used the cure of rapidly rubbing my tongue on the back of the roof of my mouth. Seems to work well. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/37 "2015-06-02T15:08:59Z")
> [@stanger](#): > > I also have never had a brain-freeze headache. > > But if I consume a Slushie too quickly, my throat will feel like it is closing up a bit, and it HURTS LIKE HELL. > > After about 15 seconds or so, my throat warms back up and the pain stops, but I am very careful to back off when I feel my throat starting to react to the cold drink. Dang, I’d read nearly all the way through the thread and thought I was going to be unique. Then stanger came along and ruined it for me. So, yeah, count me as one of those who have never gotten the brain-freeze headache, but totally get throat-freeze, the “throatache,” whatever you want to call it. And it does, indeed, hurt like hell. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/38 "2015-06-02T19:17:20Z")
I always get the throat/chest pain if I eat anything too cold too quickly. I usually call it an “ice-cream headache” because people kind of understand why I’m in such pain but it’s seriously mostly chest pain that seems to last until my esophagus warms up. People think I’m weird because I don’t like ice in drinks but it just makes them too cold to tolerate. I never actually get head pain, though. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238/39 "2015-06-02T19:28:44Z")
I also have only the throat pain. If I can drink something room temperature it warms up my throat and I’m immediately all better. Otherwise it’s pretty rough for about 30 seconds. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-have-i-never-had-an-ice-cream-headache/721238.md?page=1)