Woman wakes up from headache with new Geordie accent – and says it's 'best thing ever'

A woman who woke up from a headache with a Geordie accent has described it as the best thing ever and that she doesn’t want to change it back.

Verity Went, 27, from Staffordshire said the change initially occurred after she tried to sleep off a migraine on October 4, 2023. When she woke up she found her accent had switched and that she was later told not much could be done to fix it.

She said that not only had her accent changed but her thoughts and inner monologue had switched too.

Verity explained: “I was told that there isn’t much that can be done about the accent and they don’t know much about it, but I don’t care – this is me now.

“But I do believe it’s permanent because of the fact it’s changed my inner monologue as well and in my dreams it’s changed. I also sleep talk and my boyfriend says it’s also in my new accent, so I can’t see it changing.”

The accent-changing incident came soon after Verity was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder. Also known as FND, the condition is used to describe medically unexplained symptoms that could be caused by issues in the nervous system.

Verity said admitted her doctor was “so shocked” it had occurred.

The new accent was also something that Verity found difficult to accept saying that she initially felt like she had lost herself and “didn’t know” who she was any more.

She explained: “Accepting my accent was such a hard journey. The hardest part was the fact I could hear I sounded different and I completely lost all my confidence.

“It took me months to accept my accent and for me to stop hearing myself when I speak, and even sometimes now I still can notice and hear myself when I speak.”

On whether she would want to change it back Verity, who was diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome in May 2024, said she wouldn’t summarising: “I do feel like it’s the best thing that happened because it opened so many opportunities for me and changed me for the better…I love the person I am now and I’m happy with the change, and don’t want it to change back.”