Brummie woman woke up from migraine speaking with a Geordie accent | UK News

A young woman plagued by migraines says her life was changed forever when she went to sleep off one particularly crippling headache – and woke up with a completely new accent.

Verity Went couldn’t believe the sound of her own voice after her Midlands twang was replaced by a Geordie one back in October.

The 26-year-old, who endures more than 20 each month, was diagnosed with chronic hemiplegic migraines at 20 and functional neurological disorder (FND) a year ago after several seizures.

She now suspects her neurological disorder coupled with a migraine may have induced Foreign Accent Syndrome, a little-known condition that causes people to suddenly adopt a new accent.

Video footage shows the shocking change in Verity’s accent from Midlands to Geordie despite never moving from her home in Staffordshire.

Verity recalled: ‘I’d been awake for a couple of hours and I could see my vision going and I knew I was going to have a migraine. It was probably one of the worst migraines I’ve ever had in my life.

‘When I woke up my speech was quite slurred but I’m used to that when I get paralysis and then when it came back it literally went straight to a Geordie accent.

‘It was like I didn’t get an option to try my old accent, I just woke up straight to this. I had no symptoms of anything else changing.

‘My mam works at a doctors where I live and I messaged her saying “something isn’t right, I sound different”.

‘I got in straight away and looked at my mam to start talking and felt so embarrassed. As I started talking the doctor’s eyes and mouth were wide open.

‘She genuinely couldn’t believe it. She’d heard about it before but said it was really rare. She checked me over and said “you feel fine” and I felt normal.

‘And it’s just stayed as it is now.’

Verity, who plans on working with other people suffering from hidden disabilities in the future, went on: ‘I had a strong Midlands accent before. I went to the North East when I was younger for a caravan holiday but it was when I was 13.

‘It’s very strange it’s changed to this. I feel like I’m really used to it now, looking at old videos it sounds weird.

‘I do feel like in a way I’ve completely lost myself sometimes. Now it’s completely normal.’

Verity says some people ‘can be quite rude about it’ or assume she is making the whole thing up.

But she adds: ‘I want to spread awareness because it has completely changed my life. I want people to open their eyes to other hidden disabilities.

‘I think it is a long-term thing and it’s permanent. Apparently it can change again but changing again would be really difficult, I’ve fully accepted this accent now.’

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