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Ever felt that sudden stabbing headache after a few licks of an ice cream?
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That brain freeze might be trying to tell you something much deeper.
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Migraine Heroes is a podcast for chronic migraine sufferers
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who've seen countless doctors with no results.
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Learn how to reduce your migraine attacks without endless medications or constant sacrifices.
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Hello, I'm Diane Ducarme. I've helped over 500 people break free from migraine
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even after suffering for up to 60 years.
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My mission in life? To bring this relief to a million people
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using a unique blend of eastern medicine and western science.
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In this episode, you will learn what happens in your brain and blood vessels
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when ice cream triggers a headache, and why it's more than just a brain freeze.
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How this response is closely linked to the mechanisms behind full-blown migraines.
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And how ice cream can be a migraine trigger that continues in infinity,
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giving you something that actually looks like a hormonal migraine on your tracker, except it's not.
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You know that moment when you bite into an ice cream or sip a frozen smoothie
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and suddenly, boom, a sharp stabbing pain hits your forehead like a lightning bolt?
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So that is a brain freeze, also known as an ice cream headache.
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Yeah, it has a name.
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So I live in New Zealand and I swear, here is practically a national sport for kids.
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Inhale your ice cream as fast as humanly possible,
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smack your forehead and proudly declare brain freeze.
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It's like a rite of passage in kindergarten. It drives me insane.
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But seriously, what is actually going on in your body when that frosty little scoop hits?
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So I'm going to break it down for you from a western and an eastern perspective.
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Let's go into the west first.
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When something icy touches the roof of your mouth or the back of your throat,
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your body reacts fast.
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The blood vessels in that area suddenly constrict, tighten up to protect you from the cold.
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Then just as quickly, they dilate or open up to warm things back up.
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This rapid switch flips a pain signal through your trigeminal nerve,
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basically the body's internal messenger that connects your mouth, face and forehead.
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And that's why you're going to feel the pain in your forehead
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even though the cold is hitting your mouth.
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Now here's something fascinating.
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If you're someone who suffers from migraines, you might be more sensitive to brain freeze. In fact,
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research shows nearly three out of four migraine sufferers get brain freeze from cold foods,
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way more than people who don't get migraines.
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That suggests their brain may be more tuned into sudden shifts in blood flow as we know them. Now
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scientists have found that a brain freeze involves the interior cerebral artery,
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a major blood vessel in the brain.
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During a freeze, this artery expands quickly, boosting blood flow and pressure.
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That pressure may be what causes the pain.
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Once the artery shrinks back to normal, the pain vanishes just as fast.
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Now note how locally Western science analyzes things.
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We are at the mouth level here and at one artery level.
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And the observation is very scientific, but it stays in that moment
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and does not necessarily look beyond, neither in time nor in place.
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Now let's zoom in for a moment in traditional Chinese medicine,
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where it's not just about blood vessels, isolated body parts and nerves,
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but it's about the smooth vital flow of qi, your body's life force.
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And I'm conscious this might sound vague,
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so I'm going to break it down very very concretely for you.
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So in traditional Chinese medicine, your body is like a vast network of rivers.
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Qi and blood flow through meridians, nourishing organs, your mind, and yes, your forehead.
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Now imagine one of those rivers is narrow and warm
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and gently winding its way upstream to your brain.
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Suddenly, someone dumps a whole bucket of ice into it.
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Sorry, I had to make the joke.
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The intense cold invades the stomach meridian,
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part of the yang-ming channel, which runs straight up to your forehead.
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So here I'm beyond the mouth already.
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I'm going deeper and following the trace of the cold,
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which leads me to the stomach spleen, now linked to the prefrontal cortex.
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Cold, in traditional Chinese medicine, is like the uninvited guest who shows up early,
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freezes the punch bowl, and brings the party to a halt.
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It contracts, it congeals, and it blocks the smooth flow of qi and blood.
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So that brain freeze, in TCM terms,
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it's called crashing the energetic party of the stomach spleen.
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Your stomach qi gets jammed, and suddenly
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your head goes from calm steam to icy traffic jam.
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But it doesn't stop there.
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In traditional Chinese medicine, and now even western science is catching on,
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cold foods can actually mess with your gastric juices themselves.
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Your body, including your stomach,
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runs best at a cozy 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 37 degrees Celsius.
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When you toss something really cold into the mix,
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it cools down your stomach lining enough to slow digestion. Now
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think of the enzymes in your stomach, like pepsin,
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as little workers who only get going when it's warm.
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Drop the temperature to low, very low, and they start to lag behind.
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Your stomach muscles as well,
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which usually turn and move food along with a nice rhythm, also slow down.
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So instead of smooth digestion,
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you get kind of a traffic jam that is more generalized and deeper, and
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that can leave you feeling heavy, bloated, or just off, feeling meh.
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Now, in traditional Chinese medicine,
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this chilling effect is linked to what's called dampness.
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In the western term, it's often associated with things like belly distention,
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phlegm buildup, SIBO, so small intestinal bacterial overgrowth,
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and candida. Essentially, an unhealthy gut biome.
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That bad biome starts producing phlegm, which can irritate your vagus nerve.
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Since your vagus nerve connects to your brain,
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this irritation can trigger prolonged migraine hangovers,
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or what's known as post-trauma phase, or brain fog, feeling very foggy in the brain,
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not necessarily in pain, just not clear.
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And that is how you go from a brain freeze,
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as a more systemic pathway, to longer term migraines.
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Of course, not just a single bite, but with eating those at repetition.
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Now, super important follow-on effect, that no one talks about in the world of migraines,
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and yet that is so important.
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Here's the most fascinating bit.
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The yang-ming channels in your body, though they do not connect directly to your uterus,
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act like the fuel source that powers the whole system.
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And when your digestive fire is strong and warm,
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your uterus gets the nourishment it needs.
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But if your fuel line is cold, this can constrict blood vessels around your uterus,
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and leads to the formation of blood clots.
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Yes, actual blood clots in the uterus.
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They look like sort of jelly-like bulbs, that sometimes show up on a heavier flow day.
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So, well, if one gets stuck, of any size, small one, large one, in a nasty location,
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it can cause a cycle of almost endless migraine-like pain,
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centered around the uterus, at the time of menstruation. And
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this is how you get a non-hormonal, looking like a hormonal,
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migraine pain, each time you menstruate.
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Now, how the hell do I know that?
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When I onboard someone on Zoom,
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so people go on our website, MigraineHeroes.com,
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they take the test, which is, you know, a fairly long test, but very thorough,
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and we meet over Zoom, and we debrief on that test,
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and I explain all of the sources of the different type of migraines they experience,
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and the root causes of them.
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And for me, it's a commitment, not a small one.
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We don't want just good statistics.
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This is not why I'm doing this.
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We want to have results for everyone, or 100% of the people we onboard.
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And that has meant that, for the last six years,
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we've searched and searched to find out, until the last carats,
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why people have migraines, and made that discovery.
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And we still make discoveries to this day.
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And I remember one extreme case.
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It was a woman in her 40s, who used the Migraine Heroes service,
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and we targeted those blood clots,
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and she actually expelled one the size of a baseball.
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I had to double check what a baseball looks like,
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because while I remained composed, I just couldn't believe it.
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Her words literally were,
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I feel I dodged a bullet. And I agreed with her.
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We were both so happy and so cheerful.
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Her migraines vanished overnight, and so did her anxiety.
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The body was under stress.
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Note, there can be other things in the uterus that can cause migraine,
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and that is the object of another podcast.
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But remember this, ice cream is what I call a slow trigger,
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and a nasty migraine trigger, much beyond the funny snap on your forehead.
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Okay, one small piece of advice, because I know you're all saints. Okay,
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it doesn't mean you can't have ice cream.
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If you have ice cream, make it melt in your mouth before you swallow.
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And remember, every small step you take moves you closer to freedom.
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You are powerful, you are resilient, and you are never alone.
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Keep rising, Migraine Hero.
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Found this episode helpful?
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Hit subscribe so you never miss an episode with the powerful insights
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and practical tips for real migraine relief.
