Posted by Hal (209.206.37.63) on September 17, 1999 at 12:11:29:
In Reply to: I think Hemicrania means one sided.....nt posted by Nancy on September 16, 1999 at 20:37:41:
Hemicrania is from the Greek words hemi “half” and kranion “skull,” i.e. “half-skull” and is also the source of the (originally) French word, migraine. I’ve always felt that the word probably originally referred to clusters and not to the kind of headache that we call “migraine,” today. Clusters are 99.44% of the time on only one side of your head, whereas migraines can be on either side of your head from one time to another, on both sides of your head at the same time, or on your whole head. I’ve had clusters for 43 years and they have always been on the right side. The change in meaning might have occurred because migraines are like clusters and a lot more common, besides.