I wasn't exactly sure where else to post this, and I could not find mention of it elsewhere.

When I was a couple years younger and hadn't used any psychedelics yet, I would sometimes get a brainfreeze or "ice cream headache" from eating/drinking something too fast that was really cold. It was usually like a milkshake or a slurpee. It would only happen if I drank it too fast (which I would usually do ) and I would get a brief pain in my head that would pass in a short amount of time.

After using psychedelics, particularly DMT, it seems that my brainfreezes have worsened by a lot. I drink a lot of pretty cold drinks and when the pain hits, it will last for well over 15 seconds when it only used to last for maybe three. It's not really that debilitating, but I do need to remove myself from any conversation and just stare to wait for the pain to go away.

I read on Wikipedia that the same mechanism responsible for migraines might play a role in brainfreezes. I have used DMT to completely abort a migraine before, and now I'm thinking that these factors could all be connected somehow. I'm no scientist but I think this observation could be useful to someone who is.

Brainfreezes are thought to be caused by contraction of vessels onto nerves above the hard pallete. Psychedelic drugs cause cranial vasoconstriction, which sometimes persists after the initial experience is over (which is one thought as to why they might be good for migraines, although the science the conflicting on this).

Add those too things together, and I imagine the end result is that the vessels involved in an icecream headache are already abnormally consitricted after a psychedelic journey, and if you add some icecream, they'll constrict even more than they would if you hadn't taken drugs earlier.

More constriction, more pressure, more pain.

This is a TOTAL shot in the dark though.

Blessings
~ND

Strangely, I've never had any ice cream headaches since my first trip. used to get them all the time, but i haven't in years.

Thanks for the replies. Nathanial, I thought for a second that the vessels getting larger in my head was what caused them, but that is for migraines, not brainfreezes, which is why I think I was able to completely abort the migraine I started to have a couple weeks ago by doing DMT. So that makes sense.

But if the brainfreezes are also caused by constriction, it would make sense that some kind of lingering constriction causes more pain. It's not too high priority so I doubt any university or government scientists will be studying this problem soon!

I've had severe migraines since childhood and I used to give myself brain freezes on purpose just to try to get a brief moment of relief from the pain. I don't normally drink anything that fast anymore, although I do drink a lot of cold drinks. I think Nathanial's theory could have some truth to it.

It's actually the opposite. The vasoconstriction is immediate, and causes and equally immediate rebound dilation of the blood vessels, causing them to push against nearby nerves resulting in pain. It's actually the same exact mechanism that causes migraines, but on a shorter time scale. Vasoconstriction from psychedelics shouldn't help or hurt in theory, as they have a more chronic effect that i would imagine does not cancel the reflexive response of the blood vessels experiencing a change in temperature.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice-cream_headache

I think the real culprit is heightened awareness of bodily sensations - positive and negative.

I was just thinking.. if the brain is exposed to cold sensations for too long, leading to a brief painful headache (possibly longer with psychedelic use), then wouldn't any increased heat exposure help reduce these effects? Cayenne pepper for instance is a major source of heat producing capsaicinoids. This might be of aid to those suffering from prolonged and unusual 'cold producing' headaches. Not much would be needed but is known to have a touch of pleasure and euphoria, also.. alongside its potent medicinal effects.

Yep. That's exactly what I was going to say...

That & it's DMT's way of telling you to stop drinking cold drinks so damn quickly!