Migraine attacks leading to a Chinese accent in a British woman

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 20 2010

In a bizarre incident a British woman after repeated attacks of migraine headache has started speaking with a Chinese accent.

Sarah Colwill, 35, according to experts is suffering from a condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). She gets severely debilitating migraine attacks up to three times a week and that could be one of the reasons. She gets hemiplegic migraines in which the blood vessels in her brain expand causing paralysis down one side of her body. She had a Devonshire accent that has turned foreign almost overnight. She said: “I knew I sounded different but didn’t know how much… The ambulance crew said I sounded Chinese. I have never even been to China… At first it was quite funny but my voice is annoying me now.”

FAS may occur after a stroke or a head injury. Sufferers can develop a completely new accent because the disease can change the speech areas of the brain causing lengthening of syllables, change in pitch or mispronunciation of sounds. Oxford University professor John Coleman, who conducts research into FAS and has been in touch with Mrs. Colwill, said, “FAS is extremely diverse, almost certainly not 'one thing', not a well-defined medical phenomenon and therefore not the kind of problem that there are any easy generalizations about.” There are less than 20 people around the world who suffer from FAS.

At present Mrs. Cole is again developing a different accent. She said: “I don’t know what it is going to turn into. It’s going to be quite different and people are going to react a bit strangely to it.”