Woman woke up with Geordie accent after migraine – she'd never been to the North East

A woman was left "absolutely terrified" after waking up with a completely different accent overnight - people "laugh in her face" and dub her a "liar" but there is a real, worrying reason for the change.

Verity Went is from the Midlands and had never been to the North East, so imagine her surprise when she woke up with a Geordie accent. The 27-year-old Staffordshire-based woman says she didn't recognise herself when she started speaking - and would even subconsciously adopt Geordie dialects like calling her mother 'mam' instead of 'mum'.

Verity was already suffering with terrible migraines - which left her "blacking out", vomiting, having seizures, and partly paralysed. "People just think I'm faking it, but I'm not. I didn't ask for this to happen to me," she told .

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In 2022, Verity was diagnosed with functional neurologic disorder (FND - the name given to ‘medically unexplained’ symptoms that appear to be caused by problems in the nervous system, but which are not caused by a physical neurological disease or disorder).

She was also diagnosed with foreign accent syndrome. The rare condition is common after a head injury, stroke, or other types of brain damage, according to Healthline.

Verity has become a viral sensation after opening up about her story - and she is on a mission to spread awareness and debunk misconceptions. She shared a video on TikTok explaining what happened, and said: "Tell me something about yourself that nobody believes - I'll go first. So this isn't actually my original accent, it changed three months ago.

"I have something called functional neurological disorder which is where my brain and nervous system doesn't connect properly." She added: "I had a really bad migraine and it [her speech] had gone from being slurred, a little bit, to how it is now."

Hundreds of people commented, as one individual said: "This wild! I'm from Newcastle and I genuinely thought you were from Newcastle too until I watched the full video."

"You were a Geordie in your past life it seems," said another. Another commented: "I have a friend with FND this happened too she developed a Chinese-sounding accent, she's born and bred British. she gets the seizures etc too."

Speaking about how her condition has impacted her life, Verity told Truly TV: "It completely changed me as a person, it changed my life entirely. It affected my confidence massively because I can't go anywhere independently."

Her mum admitted that she and the doctor were so shocked that they started laughing, as they didn't understand what was happening. "If you look at me, it looks like there is nothing wrong with me," she added. Because of this, trolls have branded her a "liar" and say she is making it up "for attention".

In a recent TikTok video, Verity said: "It's been over seven months since my accent has changed and I feel like now that I am used to it, I notice how much it has changed me. The way I am, the way I respond to things, I have hardly any memories before [...] It's like something has switched in my brain and I'm a completely different person."

Verity said her condition has left her constantly fatigued, sleeping a lot, and unable to work as at one point she suffered 13 seizures in a day. Thankfully, a brain surgeon is helping her comprehend her condition more and get any treatment or medication she needs.

Do you have a story? Get in touch get in touch at Lucy.Marshall@reachplc.com.

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