migraine

Etymology

1777 re-spelling (following French) of late 14th century Middle English megrim, from 13th century Old French migraigne, from Vulgar Latin pronunciation of Latin hemicrania (“pain in one half of the head”), from Ancient Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía), from ἡμι- (hēmi-, “hemi-, half”) + κρανίον (kraníon, “skull”) (whence also cranium), a calque of Egyptian gs-tp (“headache”), from gs (“half”) + tp (“head”), although the link between the Egyptian magical papyri and the Greek ἡμικρανία (hēmikranía) could be purely incidental. Cognate to megrim, hemicrania.

noun

1. (pathology) A severe, disabling headache, usually affecting only one side of the head, and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, photophobia and visual disturbances.
   He had a headache so bad that he wished he was dead, but it was the sort of migraine that promised him he would continue to suffer but not die.
   After consuming too much coffee every day for six weeks, she got severe migraines that would last up until 47 minutes after her first cup of coffee.
   It was in 1976, during our first family holiday to Disneyland, California, that my family learned the difference between a headache and a migraine. 2006, Dian Caouette, Migraine Rewritten: A Journey from Debilitating Headache Pain to Regained Health, page 6
   A team of international researchers has recently identified the first—ever genetic link to common migraine (common migraine refers to migraine without aura, and it is the most common type of migraine that occurs). 2013, Susan Hutchinson, The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine, page 18
   2013, Health Press Publishing, Natural Therapies and Prevention for Headaches and Migraines, unnumbered page, Migraine headaches are fortunately suffered by a relatively small percentage of people, but for those who do suffer, migraines can literally take over their life.
2. (pathology) A neurological condition characterised by such headaches.
   Syncope is estimated to occur in bouts of headache in approximately 5% of adult patients with migraine. 1995, Robert A. Davidoff, Migraine: Manifestations, Pathogenesis, and Management, page 60
   Migraine is characterized by recurrent unilateral, often pulsating, headaches, worsened by physical activity and associated with nausea, photophobia and phonophobia. 2005, Michael H. Silber, “Chapter 28: Headaches and sleep disorders”, in Christian Guilleminault, editor, Clinical Neurophysiology of Sleep Disorders, page 337
   2006, Joshua W. Devine, Daily Migraine Prevention and Its Influence on Resource Utilization in the Military Health System, PhD Thesis, page 1, Migraine is a common and disabling neurological disorder with substantial variation in the frequency, severity, and duration of headaches (Goadsby, Lipton, & Ferrari, 2002).