Persian-speaking Neurology & psychiatry

In Germany two specialties that most countries keep apart sit under one title: neurology (Neurologie) and psychiatry (Psychiatrie). A doctor who holds both is a Nervenarzt in everyday speech, Facharzt für Neurologie und Psychiatrie on the letterhead. That door exists for situations where a neurological question and a psychiatric one are knotted together and nobody can say from outside which produced which: a headache that arrived with months of bad sleep, a change in memory that might be exhaustion and might not, a medication acting on the nervous system that needs watching. The point of the combined specialty is that you do not have to decide, before you book, whether the problem is "in the nerves" or "in the mind".

In an emergency, or if there is a risk to life, call 112. For a medical problem outside surgery hours, and for help finding an appointment, 116 117 is available. Telefonseelsorge answers free of charge around the clock, in German, on 0800 1110111 and 0800 1110222. This page is only a directory and is not an emergency service.

What the Verified badge does and does not say

Verified says one thing only: a real person stands behind this profile and manages it themselves. YabInfy does not check anyone's certificates, licences, experience or competence, and the badge is not for sale. In Germany a doctor's licence and specialist title are held on the register of the state medical chamber (Landesärztekammer), which is where you can check them yourself, and whether a practice has a contract with your insurer is a question for the insurer.

What this door covers

The questions that usually arrive here:

• Headache and migraine, particularly where the pattern has changed or the usual measures stop working.
• Seizures and brief episodes of losing consciousness.
• Sleep disorders, from long-running insomnia to daytime sleepiness.
• Memory and cognitive assessment, structured work that often takes more than one appointment.
• Nerve pain, numbness and pins and needles in the hands and feet.
• Dizziness, loss of balance, tremor, and changes in movement or gait.
• Managing medication that acts on the nervous system: dose, interactions, and the periodic checks that go with it.

Depending on the doctor, some is handled in the practice and some referred on. This list has no sub-categories: every business sits under one heading, and the page cannot tell you which practice leans towards headache and which towards sleep or memory, so ask on your first call.

Which door for which question

• To talk something through week by week, a psychotherapist is the better door.
• For diagnosis and medication with no physical neurological symptom in play, a psychiatrist.
• This door earns its place when a physical symptom and a psychological question are on the table at once, or when you would rather one person looked at both than tell the story twice.

How the three differ is set out on the mental health page. Treat this as a routing rule, not a diagnosis: the doctor may send you somewhere else, and that is neither wasted time nor a rejection.

The tests you may meet

A few of the tests here are unfamiliar, and the unfamiliarity is most of what makes them worrying:

• Brain wave recording (EEG): electrodes are stuck to your scalp with a conductive paste and the brain's electrical activity is recorded. Nothing enters the body and it does not hurt; most of the appointment goes on attaching and removing them.
• Nerve conduction and muscle studies (ENG and EMG): how fast and how cleanly a signal travels along a nerve. The electrical stimulation feels like a brief jolt and the needle part can be mildly unpleasant, but it is short. Say so beforehand if you take a blood thinner.
• Imaging: MRI and CT are not done in the practice. You get a referral, book at a radiology centre (Radiologie), and the result usually comes back to you on a disc. That disc is yours. Keep it.

Appointments and the wait

Waits in this specialty are long, and being offered something months out is not unusual. A few things shorten them:

• When you ring, say in one sentence what the referral is for. "A headache with a new pattern" or "a memory assessment" is not the same call as "I would like an appointment": the receptionist books the right kind of slot on the strength of it.
• Ask to go on both the waiting list and the cancellation list. Most of the early appointments that exist come from somebody else dropping out.
• A referral (Überweisung) with the actual question written on it makes the practice's job easier. Whether your insurer wants one at all, and what the statutory appointment service (Terminservicestelle) can do for you, are questions for the insurer: conditions vary and change.

What to bring

• A medication list written with active ingredients, not only brand names, which change from country to country. Add the daily dose and when you started.
• A diary of the episodes: date, time of day, how many minutes it lasted, what you were doing beforehand, and what anyone who saw it noticed. A witness account carries weight here, because the person it happened to often cannot remember part of it.
• The disc from any earlier imaging and previous medical reports, including ones from another country.
• Your insurance card and referral, and if your German runs out at the specialist vocabulary, notes written at home.

Why a shared language matters here in particular

Almost the whole assessment is built on your own description of something that will not happen again in the room. The doctor does not see the seizure, does not feel the dizziness, does not watch the half hour of morning confusion; there is only your account. And the distinctions that carry the information are the ones that collapse in intermediate German: numb against tingling against weak, "I felt light headed" against "the room was spinning", "I do not remember" against "I never noticed". So does the sequence: which came first, how many seconds, what followed. In your own language you are more precise, and you mention what otherwise gets dropped while you hunt for a word.

This work happens in the room

Much of this specialty is physical: the examination by hand, the electrodes, the nerve studies. None of that works at a distance, so the city matters to you. Start from the city list at the bottom of this page, and widen it to the larger city next door.

What to ask

• The specialist title: neurology, psychiatry or both, and which side the practice leans towards.
• The language of the appointment, and whether the doctor speaks Persian or someone else in the practice does.
• Insurance: contracted with the statutory insurers or private, and what falls outside cover.
• Which tests are done in house, and how long the first appointment is: a memory or sleep assessment is rarely a short slot.
• YabInfy checks none of this, so ask for it yourself, and ask to see the document where it matters.

Choosing from this list

Read what other people wrote, but know what it can and cannot tell you: a patient review is good evidence about whether things were explained, whether time was kept and whether costs were clear. It is not a verdict on whether a diagnosis was right; that takes someone who has seen the file. Go for the specific descriptions rather than the overall score. The contact route on each profile sits behind "Show contact details" and goes straight to the practice, not through YabInfy.

On privacy: YabInfy nowhere shows who opened this page or a profile, or who looked at a contact route, and does not keep that either. The only thing that becomes public is a review you write, under a name you choose. If health is private to you, pick a name that does not lead back to you.

If you want to know how this site works, see the FAQ, and if you work in this field, add your business.