The Mindful Migraine

OK, so… be honest; have you ever tried to imitate a foreign accent? Perhaps you think it makes you sound more la-de-da, but more often than not, people’s motives for putting on an accent that’s not our own, tends towards the not-so-noble end of the motivation spectrum. Which is why, we feel a bit antsy when we hear other people trying on another country’s accent for size. Listening to a non-Aussie say “G’day mate” can seem cute or cringey, depending on who’s saying it, and why.

Imagine then, if you will, listening to a very British lady speaking English, but with an accent that sounds like she was born in China. Well, that’s what happened to Sarah Colwill.

I first came across Ms Colwill’s case on an exert from a 60 Minutes’ interview here: Instagram

[You can see videos on YouTube if you’re not on Insta here: sarah colwill – YouTube]

I didn’t know the context of why the interview was in my feed, and I’m going to be honest and admit that I thought she was pranking when I first started listening – but then – the person who was interviewing her mentioned that Sarah had suffered a severe migraine, after which she woke up with a Chinese accent.

WHAT…!?!?!

The strangest post-migraine event I’ve ever experienced followed the worst migraine ever. I finally got off the couch and realized there was something wrong with my mouth – the dentist confirmed that I had broken 3 teeth from clenching my jaw so hard… ouch! (Ever since, I wear a mouth guard during migraine attacks.)

OK, so I just had to find out more about what was going on.

First stop – the comments next to the video reel.

MISTAKE

no seriously…

BIG MISTAKE

The comments were predominantly cruel jokes and crueler trolls – nothing helpful there. So, a web-search came next.

The first place that came up was a Medical Daily post – Sarah Colwill, British Woman, ‘Woke Up Chinese’ After Suffering Severe Migraine In Hospital – I’m going to be a bit rude and suggest it’s not a super-scientific website, as evidenced by the article’s opening paragraph:

Severe headache pain pounding from side to side and lasting for several hours can often be treated with an aspirin and a good night’s rest. For 38-year-old Sarah Colwill of Plymouth, UK, however, a severe migraine caused her to be rush to the hospital and wake up Chinese on March 7, 2010. 

Hmmm… I do love a good night’s rest and an aspirin for migraine recovery after several long hours of pounding pain… sigh… if only…. FYI for all you non-migraine readers: a migraine is NOT just a bad headache – as evidenced by me in my t-shirt which reads; “saying migraine is just a headache is like saying Godzilla is just a lizard”:

[Image source: me]

The article notes that Ms Colwill has a BBC documentary (exert here) about her condition – which is called Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS). In that documentary, Colwill was introduced to Kay Russell who woke from a bad migraine to discover her Gloucestershire accent had been replaced with a French one.

It goes on: “A common link found among Colwill, Russell and other patients is severe migraines. Colwill gets severe migraines, or episodic migraines, around 10 times a month, and doctors are unable to find a way to permanently eliminate them.”

[Disclaimer – please remember that you should NOT take medical advice from the internet – sometimes online articles can be accidently misleading – the note above, for example, mentions that Colwill has 10 severe migraines a month which means she might actually have ‘chronic’ not ‘episodic’ migraines, and as such, her treatment options would need to be adjusted accordingly. Always speak to a trained professional to obtain the most current and individually tailored advice for you.]

A separate newspaper article online (here) from 2025, suggests that Colwill might have actually had a stroke that caused brain damage and FAS, but migraines were also mentioned, as was the dramatic effect the accent-change has had on her life over the last 15 years: “Ms Colwill, who said her accent is aggravated when she gets migraines, told how even her own family started to turn against her. […] ‘I lost contact with quite a few family members that seem to think that somehow this was my fault, that I was doing it for attention and I was an embarrassment to them’.”

Sigh.

Migraine sux.

Cleveland Clinic states that Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) “is a brain-related condition that affects your ability to make sounds correctly. Despite the name, it isn’t an accent change at all.” What is actually happening is “the way you talk shifts and changes in a way that’s sudden and very noticeable. As the name suggests, it sounds to others like you’ve started talking with a foreign accent.”

Interestingly, this website breaks the causes of FAS into two parts. The first is structural – stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain cancer, aneurisms, multiple sclerosis, and dementia – are all mentioned, all events or medical conditions which damage the brain. But for some people, the change is the result of how the (undamaged) brain functions – schizophrenia and bipolar conditions are mentioned, and so is migraine:

Experts aren’t sure why functional FAS develops. One possibility is that it results from brain activity that isn’t organized normally or brain areas that are too active. An example of this is FAS that happens or worsens during migraines, which are associated with broad disruptions in brain activity.

For me, my worst migraines are hemiplegic – which is when my right side becomes partially paralyzed and it becomes hard to walk or talk. My ‘normal’ brain-function is disrupted and I slur my words. You can read more on my blog posts “Having a migraine on TV” about a presenter struck down with hemiplegic migraine (and was accused of being drunk) and on “Aphasia amrsand… what?” (about my difficulty getting words out).

In the Instagram video that started this post, Ms Colwill notes that when she woke from her migraine in hospital, she knew she was slurring (and said it in a way that made it sound like she was used to it) – it was only the other person that said she sounded like an employee in a Chinese restaurant.

And that’s what FAS is – you’re still speaking the same words, it’s just that your mouth is forming them differently, causing them to be “accented”.

The Cleveland Clinic site notes that to remedy FAS, you need to treat the root-cause… and if that’s not possible, attend speech therapy classes.

If you have time, here’s the Australian 60 Minutes (18 min) episode which I found on two Australian women who both developed Irish accents. As the YouTube summary notes: “At first it sounds so unbelievable it’s laugh-out-loud funny, but this story is certainly no joke. Foreign Accent Syndrome is an extremely rare and baffling condition that affects the way people speak. One moment they’re completely normal, the next they’re talking as if they were born and raised in another country.” I watched the video, and at the 9-minute mark one of the ladies is described as having suffered a 2-month-long hemiplegic migraine (ugh – poor thing) that triggered her voice change:

[Video source: Foreign Accent Syndrome: The medical mystery leaving analysts stumped | 60 Minutes Australia]

And with that – I’m taking my Aussie-accent and stiff neck (but no migraine pain) off for a rest.

Take care taking care of yourselves my friends – regardless of whatever country you live in… and however your voice sounds… you be you,

Linda xox