Penkridge woman's voice changes to Geordie accent overnight

A woman who went to bed to sleep off a migraine woke up to find her accent had changed to a Geordie one.

Verity Went's Newcastle upon Tyne accent is thought to be a side effect of functional neurological disorder (FND) affecting her nervous system.

Ms Went, 26, of Penkridge, Staffordshire, has suffered migraines since she was eight, but has never had such an experience.

She has since tried to speak in her old voice, but "can't do it at all".

Speaking about the accent-change, Ms Went said: "With me like FND, I have like seizures, paralysis, loss of speech, so having that and then like completely changed me accent was terrifying.

"I thought, 'Maybe I'm having a stroke'.

"I went to the doctors and she was like, 'You're fine'. It's just a really rare side effect or symptom of like me FND."

Verity Went said she thought maybe she was having a stroke

Asked what the family thought, she said her mother laughed a lot, but "it was like a nervous laugh, because she didn't have a clue what was going on".

Ms Went said other family members were concerned, but because of her other FND symptoms, they were not as surprised as they might have been, "because they knew it could happen".

Asked if she thought what had happened was influenced by watching something like Geordie Shore on TV, she said: "Loads of people have said that, but like no."

'Life-changing'

The support charity FND Action describes the condition as "a brain network disorder that can encompass a diverse range of neurological symptoms, including limb weakness, paralysis, seizures, walking difficulties, spasms, twitching, sensory issues and more".

Speaking about the condition that she was diagnosed with in 2022, Ms Went said: "I was having like up to 14 [seizures] a day.

"It was like life changing. I had to give up work, me driving licence."

She said it had been "really, really difficult to deal with", but the best thing to do was "take it day by day".

She added: "I'm trying to make the most out of my life, go out as much as I can [and] trying to go back to work as much as I can."