Daisy Swaffer

About Daisy Swaffer

Daisy had a burgeoning career in IT for most of her adult life until she had to stop working because of chronic migraine.

Now she focusses her efforts more within the home, with crafts such as knitting, sewing and cross stitch. She is also an avid board gamer, proud geek and loves to cook and write. She lives with her husband at the behest of two cats.

A Brief History with the Condition

“In some ways I consider myself lucky, because migraines didn't manifest for me until I was 29. For many people it is a big hormonal change which triggers the onset of the condition, but for me it was a period of intense stress which lit the touch paper. After a few months of experiencing a migraine about once a month (though I didn't know that was what it was), I was diagnosed by my GP with migraine, but the help I received was minimal and the factors that were worsening it weren't going away, so within 18 months of my first migraine, I was chronic.

I persisted in full-time work for as long as I could, which was a further three years. After working part time for another two and a half years, during which I had only 18 days pain-free and no discernible quality of life, I took the difficult decision to stop working. It has been two years since I gave up my career and my quality of life is much better, yet migraine frequently reminds me that I can't have both a career and quality of life".