Finland

Research
No medical studies on CFS/ME have been done in Finland, though Olli Polo is conducting some research. A few insurance doctors like Antero Leppävuori and Kyösti Haukipuro have published error-ridden review articles in Finnish.

Medical guidelines
There are no official guidelines for treating CFS/ME in Finland.

CBT/GET
GET does not exist in Finland as such, though patients are often recommended exercise and sometimes psychotherapy.

Social security and disability benefits
It used to be impossible to get disability benefits for WHO ICD-10 diagnosis code G93.3. In the recent years some patients have succeeded, but it is still extremely rare. Most disabled patients apply for benefits with psychiatric diagnoses, such as major depression, even if they are not depressed. Doctors giving people a diagnosis of depression fully knowing it to be incorrect is basically a standard of care, though this is never discussed in the public.

Access to care
There is only one CFS/ME expert in Finland, Olli Polo (pulmonologist, sleep specialist, docent in physiology) in Tampere. He has been treating CFS/ME patients since 2006. About half a dozen other doctors also treat the illness.

The infectious disease clinic at Helsinki university hospital used to treat CFS/ME from about 2005 to 2010, led by the former doctor-in-chief Ville Valtonen, who would prescribe prednisone, doxycycline and IVIG, occasionally also antivirals. After Valtonen retired from his post the clinic first moved to more psychosomatic approaches and nowadays usually refuse referrals for CFS/ME.

Patient Groups

 * CFS-verkko website (in Finnish)