'I woke up slurring words - five minutes later my accent was totally different'
A woman who dozed off with a headache and awoke speaking in a completely different accent has revealed she was initially "terrified" but now believes it's the "real" her.Verity Went had settled down for a kip hoping to shake off a migraine. But when she came round, the 28 year old was stunned to discover her voice had transformed entirely.The Penkridge resident from Staffordshire now speaks with a pronounced Geordie accent. She's even started dreaming and talking in her sleep using her new voice, reports the Mirror.Recently, she ventured to Newcastle to put her accent to the ultimate test - and locals didn't even raise an eyebrow. Verity has since been diagnosed with a rare condition known as foreign accent syndrome.Speaking to What's The Jam, she revealed: "No one could tell the difference between me and a real Geordie – it was surreal."My accent hasn't changed at all since the incident. But now that some time has passed, I love my voice. It's become who I am."My friends and family are so used to it now, and everyone says they believe this is the real me, and that I suit it more than my original accent."Verity's startling transformation occurred on October 4, 2023. She had been battling a migraine at the time, a symptom of functional neurological disorder (FND), which she'd been diagnosed with a year earlier.FND is a term used to describe 'medically unexplained' symptoms that seem to stem from issues in the nervous system, but are not caused by a physical neurological disease or disorder.Verity recalled the day she woke up with a different accent: "After a couple of hours I woke up and my speech was slurred, which I'm occasionally used to, but after five minutes it came back – and was Geordie."I was terrified. I went to the doctors straight away and since they already knew about my FND, they kind of knew it was something to do with that rather than a stroke."The doctor was so shocked and when I asked what to do, she said she's heard about it before but never seen it, and to go to the hospital."Even though I like it now and I'm used to it, at first I was so upset as I just felt I had completely lost myself and didn't know who I was anymore."While initially struggling to accept her new voice, Verity has gradually come to embrace it – even noting that her inner thoughts and dreams now carry the same accent. She stated: "I don't want my voice to change back now."The change itself is so stressful and it took so long to find who I am – I don't want to go through that again. There's no knowing if it will change or not, so I just have to stay open-minded and hope that it doesn't."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."Verity is presently collaborating with an occupational therapist who specialises in FND to attempt to understand what is occurring with her body, although the seizures she previously endured are now behind her.
