'I woke from headache with completely new accent – now I even dream in it'

A woman who woke up with a Geordie accent after suffering from a headache has described the experience as "the best thing that has happened" and has no desire to revert back to her original accent. Verity Went, 27, from Staffordshire, experienced this unusual change on October 4, 2023, after trying to sleep off a migraine.

Upon waking, she discovered her accent had altered and was later informed that there was little that could be done to rectify it. Not only did her spoken accent change, but also her internal dialogue and thoughts.

Verity stated: "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 peculiar incident occurred shortly after Verity was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder (FND), a condition characterised by medically unexplained symptoms potentially caused by issues in the nervous system. Verity admitted her doctor was "so shocked" by the occurrence.

Initially, Verity struggled to accept her new accent, feeling as though she had lost her identity and didn't recognise herself anymore.

Verity, who faced a challenging journey coming to terms with her foreign accent syndrome, shared: "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."

Overcoming her struggles with self-acceptance, she revealed, "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."

Diagnosed in May 2024, Verity doesn't want to revert to her previous accent, expressing a positive outlook: "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."