Patient Experience
My 8-year-old son developed sudden, uncontrollable facial twitching after a viral infection. Our local doctor was dismissive, calling it a 'nervous habit.' Desperate, we found Prof. Dr. Belma Gungen. She didn't just look at the symptom; she observed his entire demeanor, asked about recent school projects and sleep patterns. She diagnosed it as a rare pediatric movement disorder called a 'tic cascade' triggered by post-viral inflammation. Her treatment plan wasn't just medication; it involved coordinated play therapy and school liaison. Within six weeks, the twitches were gone. She treated my child like a whole person, not a malfunctioning nerve.
As a 72-year-old with Parkinson's for a decade, I thought I'd seen all neurologists had to offer, just medication adjustments. My daughter insisted on a consultation with Prof. Dr. Gungen at Liv Hospital. The difference was profound. She spent an hour analyzing my gait with a tablet, not just watching me walk. She identified a specific 'freezing' pattern at doorways I hadn't even fully recognized. Her intervention was a custom physical therapy regimen focused on auditory cues (she had me humming specific tunes) and minor home modifications. The result? I haven't had a fall in 8 months. She gave me back a measure of dignity and safety I thought was lost forever.
I was the 'emergency case', rushed in after a complex partial seizure during a business meeting. The ER stabilized me, but the cause was a mystery. Prof. Dr. Gungen took over. Instead of immediately ordering a barrage of standard tests, she conducted a forensic-level interview about the 48 hours prior: my diet, screen time, stress triggers, even the lighting in the conference room. She pinpointed a combination of sleep deprivation and a specific visual stimulus (flickering LED lights in the new office) as the likely catalyst. Her approach was to map my brain's environment, not just its electricity. She prevented a panic diagnosis of epilepsy and provided a practical, life-managing protocol. I've been seizure-free for two years by following her environmental guidelines.
My follow-up visit for chronic migraine was unlike any other. I expected the usual 'Are the pills working?' Instead, Prof. Dr. Gungen had created a digital timeline of my attacks over the past year, correlating them with weather data from my neighborhood and my own logged sleep cycles from a wearable she had suggested. She identified a barometric pressure threshold that was my personal trigger. The new treatment plan included a weather alert system and specific hydration protocols for low-pressure days. It sounds simple, but no other neurologist in 15 years had ever looked outside my skull for the answer. She practices a kind of ecological neurology, and it has cut my migraine days by 70%.