[9] The term ice-cream headache has been in use since at least January 31, 1937, contained in a journal entry by Rebecca Timbres published in the 1939 book We Didn't Ask Utopia: A Quaker Family in Soviet Russia.

Research suggests that the same vascular mechanism and nerve implicated in "brain freeze" cause the aura (sensory disturbance) and pulsatile (throbbing pain) phases of migraines.

[14] It is possible to have a cold-stimulus headache in both hot and cold weather, contrary to popular belief, because the effect relies upon the temperature of the food being consumed rather than that of the environment.

[15][16] Other causes that may mimic the sensation of cold-stimulus headache include that produced when high speed drilling is performed through the inner table of the skull in people undergoing such a procedure in an awake or sedated state.

"[19] According to research conducted by Ilaria Bonemazzi and several other colleagues found that the children participants in their study were more likely to develop cold-stimulus headaches compared to their adult counterparts.

In a letter written by SK Jankelowitz and AS Zagami, the authors describe a patient who experienced cold-stimulus headache symptoms while she was ice skating.

[21] In research conducted by Anthony Khoo, Michelle Kiley, and Peter J Goadsby, it was found that naproxen was seen to prevent the symptoms of a cold-stimulus headache when it was taken thirty minutes before the exposure and ingestion of a cold substance.