Many hospitals have full beds. The waiting list for outpatient treatment is expanding. Teens and adults seeking help with eating disorders often find it takes about several months to get an appointment.

Doctors and other experts say that this pandemic has created dangerous conditions for eating disorders, leading to a surge in new cases and relapses, but as restrictions have relaxed and COVID-19 cases have subsided in many places, this relapse has not abated.

Jennifer Wilder, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Outpatient Eating Disorders Program at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, said: “We are definitely seeing huge growth.” Some patients wait four to five months to receive treatment, such as psychotherapy, which sometimes requires medical treatement. Wilde said the wait before a pandemic usually lasts only a few weeks.

She said her plan is treating about 100 patients, which is twice the amount before the pandemic.

The Emily program, an eating disorder treatment program affiliated with the University of Minnesota, is experiencing the same thing.

The plan’s chief strategy officer, nutritionist Jillian Lampert, said that since the beginning of the pandemic, the daily call volume of people seeking treatment has doubled, up from about 60 calls in 2019. 130 times so far.

She said: “We know that anxiety and isolation are often very important components of eating disorders.”

Lampert said that because of the epidemic, some patients said “I feel out of control in my life,” and they resorted to overeating as a coping mechanism, Lampert said. Others took the message of “don’t exacerbate pandemic 15” to the extreme, limiting their diet to anorexia.

The program provides inpatient and outpatient programs in multiple states, and when the pandemic begins, the program is converted to remote treatment. Although some face-to-face treatments continue, this situation continues.

She said: “We have seen an increase in the number of patients of all races, adults, adolescents and sometimes even children.” This includes LGBTQ people, whose incidence of eating disorders is often higher than other populations. Women and girls are more susceptible than men.

Peyton Crest, 18, from Minnetonka, Minnesota, said she suffered from anorexia before the pandemic, but has relapsed twice since the pandemic began.

Last year, when the school went online and social distancing began, she was already feeling anxious and stressed.

She said: “That was my third grade, and I was about to apply for college.” Her support system was suddenly deprived of her friends and classmates. She spent the whole day in her room and became susceptible to food and anorexia. A strong interest.

Under the advice of her parents, she received local treatment in June, but relapsed again in September. She spent nearly two months in a residential treatment center in Arizona.

Her school recently resumed face-to-face teaching. She was admitted to Rhodes University in Memphis, and Crest said she was in much better condition.

She said: “My mental health has been greatly improved.”

Wilders said her procedures have not slowed down.

She said: “People have not really returned to their daily work,” she predicted, and the number of patients will not decrease until autumn.

During the pandemic, the Eating Disorder Awareness Alliance, which began to provide adults with support groups led by virtual therapists, has also proliferated. Alliance CEO Johanna Kandel said that since January, more than 7,000 people from every state and 32 countries have participated in their support group.

She said: “It’s like we’ve never seen it before.”

The hospitalization rate of girls with serious complications of eating disorders (mainly anorexia) has also increased.

Eating disorders affect at least 9% of people worldwide. According to the American Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Related Diseases, they will affect the lives of nearly 30 million Americans and cause approximately 10,000 deaths each year.

Anorexia is a more common eating disorder, usually involving restrictive eating habits and extreme thinness. It can cause abnormal low blood pressure and organ damage.

Bulimia is another eating disorder that involves eating large amounts of food and then self-inducing vomiting. Signs include frequent use of laxatives and going to the bathroom immediately after meals.

According to the association, although there is evidence that doctors rarely ask people of color about eating disorders, people of all races and ethnicities may be affected.

An analysis of electronic medical record data from about 80 hospitals in the United States found that compared with the data of the previous two years, there has been an increase of 30% since March 2020. As of February, the number of girls between the ages of 12 and 18 had enrolled 1,718, but the enrollment rate of boys had not increased.

The analysis was published in the journal Epic Health Research Network in April.

“The COVID pandemic has brought very, very significant psychological challenges to society, especially young people. Dr. Dave Little, a family doctor and researcher at Epic, said: “This is a major event. It has damaged the lives of many people in many ways. It will take months or even years before we can see all the real impact. “analysis.

He said the data should keep parents and healthcare providers vigilant.

“Talk to your child, talk to your patient. Little said: “Ensure that eating behaviors are healthy and that possible problems are detected as early as possible… The faster the response, the better.”