Olli Polo

Olli Juhani Polo, MD, PhD, is a Finnish pulmonologist, sleep specialist, physiology physician and CFS/ME expert working in Stockholm, Sweden. He was formerly a professor of pulmonology at Tampere university, but lost the professorship in 2014 as a result of official complaints made against him by insurance doctors. Dr Polo had his own clinic, Unesta, where he mostly treated and studied CFS/ME, RLS and sleep apnea. Since 2019 he has been working as a clinician at Bragee ME center Stockholm. He has also treated multiple chemical sensitivity and mold illness.

Polo has been treating and studying CFS/ME since 2007, but he lost his license to practice medicine on the private sector in 2017. This decision remains in effect even though just days later a Finnish court decided that the 2014 complaints, on which the legal action was based, were unwarranted in the light of scientific evidence. Polo is still allowed to practice pulmonary medicine at the Tampere University hospital.

Olli Polo is a member of the EUROMENE group of ME/CFS specialists and has published over 100 papers in prominent journals about sleep disorders, particularly restless leg syndrome (RLS), sleep apnea and the effect of menopause on sleep. He has been a speaker at the 2016 Invest in ME International ME Conference in London and many smaller CFS/ME conferences and events.

Theories

Polo's ideas of the causal mechanisms of CFS/ME are focused on the sympathetic nervous system, circadian rhythm and tissue hypoxia. He believes Ehlers-Danlos syndrome or a similar type of collagen abnormality underlies virtually every case of CFS/ME. He has documented this in hundreds of patients and the evidence has been the subject of many of his conference speeches.

Treatments

Polo has developed several experimental medical therapies, as well as utilizing more common treatments like LDN, supplemental oxygen, saline, vitamin B12, rotigotine and pramipexole. He believes most psychiatric drugs, sleeping pills, and Lyrica (pregabelin) are harmful in CFS/ME patients.

Polo has been a vocal advocate for CFS/ME, multiple chemical sensitivity and mold illness in the Finnish media and has been interviewed in TV, radio, online documentaries and many newspaper and magazine articles. This has not always been positively received by his colleagues.

=LDN research

For years Polo applied for permission to run clinical trials on LDN and his experimental treatments, but his applications was always turned down. The Finnish regulatory agencies are of the opinion that CFS/ME is such a mild illness that virtually any potential side effect, no matter how minor, would be unacceptable.

In 2017 Polo finally got the permission to run an LDN study. It had just completed enrollment, when he was barred from continuing it due to losing his right to private medical practice. He has, however, compiled a retrospective paper on using LDN in hundreds of his CFS/ME patients.

Reseach studies

• 2021, European Network on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (EUROMENE): Expert Consensus on the Diagnosis, Service Provision, and Care of People with ME/CFS in Europe - (Full text)
• 2019, Dampness and mold hypersensitivity syndrome and vaccination as risk factors for chronic fatigue syndrome - (Full text)
• 2019, Low-dose naltrexone in the treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) - (Abstract)

Talks and interviews

• 2016, Speaker at the 11th Invest in ME International ME Conference on "Clinical Diagnosis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis" - DVD available
• 2017, Speaker at the Care4ME conference in Brussels on sleep and dysautonomia in ME. - YouTube video

Learn more

• Curriculum Vitae

See also

• Bragee ME center Stockholm
• Invest in ME International ME Conference
• EUROMENE
• Finland

physiological Concerning living organisms, such as cells or the human body.  Physio logical (as in physio) is not to be confused with psych ological (emotional stress).

See ME/CFS.

See myalgic encephalomyelitis.

See chronic fatigue syndrome.

See adverse reaction.

adverse reaction Any unintended or unwanted response to a treatment, whether in a clinical trial or licensed treatment. May be minor or serious.

myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.) - A disease often marked by neurological symptoms, but fatigue is sometimes a symptom as well. Some diagnostic criteria distinguish it from chronic fatigue syndrome, while other diagnostic criteria consider it to be a synonym for chronic fatigue syndrome. A defining characteristic of ME is post-exertional malaise (PEM), or post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE), which is a notable exacerbation of symptoms brought on by small exertions. PEM can last for days or weeks. Symptoms can include cognitive impairments, muscle pain (myalgia), trouble remaining upright (orthostatic intolerance), sleep abnormalities, and gastro-intestinal impairments, among others. An estimated 25% of those suffering from ME are housebound or bedbound. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies ME as a neurological disease.

dysautonomia disorders of the autonomic nervous system that cause disturbances in all or some autonomic functions, may cause problems regulating autonomic functions, including heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and digestion. Can cause symptoms including lightheadedness, fainting, unstable blood pressure, and orthostatic intolerance.