AN AUSTRALIAN woman has described how she woke up after major surgery speaking with an Irish accent.
An Gie McYen began speaking with a full-blown Irish brogue after undergoing a tonsillectomy earlier this month.
The situation was made all the more extraordinary by the fan that An Gie is not Irish, has no Irish friends or family and has never even been to Ireland.
Keen to document the phenomenon further, An Gie setup a TikTok account to chronicle her experience.
Three days in, she updated her followers on how things were progressing with her newfound Irish accent.
“There are no traces of Aussie twangs anymore,” she said.
“Today I tried as hard as I can to talk normally, and no, it’s full Irish.”
After nine days, she returned with another update.
“My accent is not as thick as it was last week. In terms of how I am coping, I am definitely still in the third stage of grief, and the last two days were not pretty,” she said.
@angie.mcyenDay 2: I woke up with an Irish accent the day before and thought I was gonna wake up from this weird dream. But no, my Aussie accent’s gone♬ original sound - angie.mcyen
After 13 days, her accent still had yet to return, prompting some to question whether she was making the whole thing up.
An Gie was quick to refute those claims.
"Unfortunately, it’s not fake,” she said.
“I bloody damn hope that my Aussie accent is coming through, as it’s what I’ve had for the last 20 years,” she said.
“I hope you learn something from my journey and spread awareness about this."
@angie.mcyenDay 13: Struggling to find a neurologist who has experience with ##foreignaccentsyndrome or knows someone who can help me ##foryou
While highly unusual, An Gie’s experience isn’t entirely uncommon.
It’s actually a condition known as Foreign Accent Syndrome and it affects hundreds of people every year.
The condition sees patients develop speech patterns that are often perceived as that of a foreign accent as it differs from their native accent.
Foreign Accent Syndrome is usually the result of a medical issue like a stroke but has been known to develop among individuals suffering head trauma, migraines and developmental issues.
In the case of An Gie, the trigger appears to be her tonsil surgery.
Several treatments are recommended including speech therapy and counselling. However, if it is the result of an underlying medical condition medication is often administered.
