hi i have had this problem ever since i was a baby and im now 35,the noises the bloating and the nausea.The problem now is my 14 year old daughter also has this problem and its driving her mad she feels so sick all the time and all she wants to do is burp she wants me to take her to the docs but after reading this i dnt really see the point as none of them seem to belive it.

I am 26/m and have the same problem. How is this not better known. I can not burp to save my life, although every now and then, like maybe once every month or two, I accidently burp. When it happens I'm always so surprised and have no idea how I did it. Anyway, I don't think my case is quite as severe as some, yet still quite annoying. Only after really drinking quite a bit of beer do I get to the point where sometimes I need to stick my finger down my throat and "dry heave" as I call it to release large amounts of air. Other problems stemming from not being able to burp are the infamous "throat gurgles" after large meals and/or beer. This is the worst when kissing after drinking beer because the breathing involved seems to trigger the gurgles. I thought I made that term up but I guess I'm not alone there. Bad, although not always foul, gas is also a problem. Someone tell me how to burp and I will be more than grateful.

I am 26 years old and have never been able to burp either.

When I was 22 and pregnant with my son I started to develop these gurgles...seemed to always happen after having mountain dew, so I cut soda out of my diet. The doctor passed it off as mild acid reflux and said it was no big deal.

This past year I went through a divorce, miscarriage and huge move. Needless to say it has gotten progressively worse. Not even sure if the stressors factor into it, but am sure they do not help. I can no longer eat high acid foods, drink beer, have coffee, soda or seems like anything. I do it and regret it with these god awful throat gurgles that make me nauseous and sick. I then have to go to the bathroom and stick my finger or toothbrush down my throat to get rid of it. I thought I was crazy until I googled this. I have had an endoscope done and an ultrasound of my gallbladder and have even been tested for celiac disease. Anyone who has information on this please post and let us know.

The best resource I have found is actually a myspace page. search for dysfunction of the belch reflux and her myspace page will show up and believe me it is amazing when you read about her and her struggles. Good luck to everyone! I hope we figure this out!

i have had a gurgling noise coming from my throught for as long as i can remember. they are always at random times but they also occur at quiet times when im worried they will happen. i sometimes believe this is because of anxiety. i gurgle so much that my friends gave it a name- flurping. i never can make myself burp. i burp about three to two times a year, and when i do they are very quite and sometime they are after i hiccup. can someone please tell what is wrong with me??

I used to have this prob. Then I drank a lot of beer a little to often and seems to have fixed it. Kinda weird but seems to have worked. Might of been because I was buzzed and wasnt thinking about it so it just came out or cus I was drinkin so much beer that it forced it out. Prob could work for soda. I used to not drink beer cus I couldn't burp but I just kept drinkin it till I could burb and it worked. Might be just me though. Really dont know.

Wow i am so relieved that here are people out there that have the same problem as him! He suffers every night, some days worse than other's. He has been on Lanzoprazole for months now and it hasn't helped him. He says he has a buzzing/poping feeling in his chest and throat and tends to feel very sick. He also has this cough, as though he need to clear his throat. He says it's worse when he lays down. I feel so sorry for him as some people has suggested that it is all in his head. It has only just been in the last couple of weeks in discussion that we have realised that he has never burped or can't remember him ever doing it. So I thought i would come on here, so i just want to say thanks to everyone for posting their thoughts, it has really helped! He is under the peadiatrician and has to have a Barium Meal next week and on new medication, hopefuly they will make him better or at least help him live with the problem. I will keep you posted!

anyone on here from the "my whim is law: can't burp" message board? i noticed it's gone! the site is no longer there. in case you don't know what i'm talking about, there was another message board probably about the size of this one dedicated to us non-burpers. there are way more of us than anyone thought! keep posting with your musings and advice...that's the only way we'll ever get around to finding better ways to manage this annoying issue.

Wow! I really never realized how widespread this is. I think the worst for me is the gurgles. It can be so loud and embarrassing, especially in intimate situations or quiet places. I did think that it could be related with my burping issue, but never truly connected it until I read this thread. I also am gassy, feel bloated easily and only throw up if hideously sick. I hope that someone figures this out. We can't possibly all be making it up!

I'm going to sound like a broken record, but why not... I'm a 31 year old male, healthy, active individual, normal in most respects, other than my inability to burp. I'm not going to go through all the symptoms, as you've all done a wonderful job of that already. but my jaw dropped as I read the words of each and every one of you, which are practically verbatim on what I've been trying to describe to others for as long as I can remember. and I swear, if one more person tells me to "just swallow air" I might just fart on them. but seriously, this thing is very disturbing to a normal lifestyle, as most of you can surely attest to. I plan to contact this Chicago doctor and see if I can head up there for a visit with him. something needs to happen, because as I sit here in my office after lunch, I realize I've just (sadly) gotten used to living like this, for as long as I can remember. I'll post anything I find out, and I hope everyone else will as well.

if it matters, I've been a vegetarian my whole life, my parents said I burped as a baby, and I often wake up with abdominal muscle pains, along with some occasional killer headaches and occasional jaw/throat pain as was described earlier. a recent x-ray taken at my chiropractor's office showed a ton of "blobs" of white in my abdominal region, which he said were pockets of gas; more than he had ever seen on an x-ray in his life. just my $0.02...

wishing us all the best of luck in correcting this problem...

so I'm completely consumed with this now that I know I'm not crazy and there are countless others with the EXACT SAME condition as myself. I'm very interested in why we have this problem, when we probably all burped as babies. so I've been looking into any other type of medicinal approach, i.e. acupuncture, to address issues of the UES. most of my searching only revealed that acupuncture/pressure was utilized for GERD patients and impacted the LES. but, I did find one thread where one acupuncturist (or pressurist, not sure still) had a patient who she was treating for shoulder pain (coincidentally I have 2 bad shoulders) and when pressing one spot, the patient would hiccup and burp! is that not what we're looking for? there was no statement as to the patient's ability before to burp, but she did note relief... you can check it yourself, but I like where this may be heading. I'm going to try asking that physician about that patient, and will try to schedule an acupuncture visit for myself ASAP!!

who knows, right?

Where have you people been all my life? I thought I was the only one. The incredible pressure and throat gurgling. It seems I fart almost instantly after eating. Sometimes it takes awhile. Most of the time it is right away. I have burped a couple of times in the past year but nothing to really speak of. My wife wants me to talk to a doctor but, I really don't want to. Most of them probably won't take me seriously. I'll keep checking this forum.

Just today I returned from a visit to a gastrointestinal doctor. He completely blew me off, just as everyone always has for this problem.
I have also heard that it could be a esophageal sphincter issue? I'm not sure about this though. That's the muscle at the top of your esophagus that would have to relax to let out gas (I think that's correct...could be wrong.)

I usually get so bloated from this lack of belching that I end up having to lay on my stomach with my butt in the air (embarrassing...) until I basically fart it all out. It's ridiculous.

If anyone finds a solution to this or ends up having any sort of success with a doctor, please let me know. I'll keep checking this forum.

seems like there are only sufferers posting here and no ANSWERS. where are all the docs?

i have trouble burping and the burps i get have to be forced and usually they're all foamy sounding. it feels like there's food in the way blocking the air from getting out. this is worse when i'm drinking beer. perhaps as a result, i then often get so severely bloated that i seriously look pregnant. i also have chronic severe heartburn and reflux for which i take prilosec once a day and zantac often during the day if i need it. i guess i must have a hiatal hernia since the burps are all food and liquid?
anyway i don't wanna go to the doc because i'm afraid they'll give me a hundred expensive tests and throw their hands up anyway while i get used to the bill for $7000 they just gave me.
i've also come to the near conclusion that it's gluten related after months of studying it all but not 100% sure.
anyway hope there are some docs on here! we need answers!

Below I've listed some links for you all so be sure to read to the bottom.

There is a gastro doctor named Dr. Kahrilas who specializes in esophageal issues specifically. He's located in Chicago (where I'm luckily located). I found out about him last night and scheduled an appointment with him today. I see him next Friday, March 6th!!!

He discovered this condition and labeled it "Dysfunction of the Belch Reflex".
He has done several studies related to it and has been published several times in medical journals. Supposedly he's widely renowned for his work.

And some tips for minimizing effects that I've just sort of discovered myself:

- Avoid chewing gum or sucking on candy. Everytime you swallow, you swallow air as well, so chewing gum or anything that promotes saliva production will cause you to swallow more, therefore ingesting more air.

- Avoid Caffeine!!! This may be hard for many, but caffeine causes bloating and gas. You can look this one up. It's true. So tea, coffee, etc...you'll notice, will bloat you. It's the caffeine. So get decaf if you must.

- Obviously avoid carbonation. If you must drink beer (and I must...), if you can, whisk the carbonation out as much as possible with a whisk or fork or even shaking it up a bit in the bottle. I usually try to pour about half of my beer into the glass hard so it foams up (therefore releasing carbonation), then with the other half still in the bottle I shake it up with my finger in the neck. Then let your finger out. There shouldn't be enough beer left in the bottle for it to spew over but you'll feel a bunch of air come out. Thats THAT much less air that will bloat you later

- Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, try eating something small in between meals. Avoid eating a lot of food at once or you're sure to get bloated. Eating a small amount of food just more often throughout the day will prevent this.

- Drink in small doses. Lots of liquid at once seems to cause bad bloating and gurgling.

- Avoid very airy or pores foods. This would include things like bread or milkshakes...anything where there are lots of little pockets of air for you to ingest. A lot of heavy carbs also tend to do it. I've noticed corn does it pretty badly as well...but this could vary person to person.

- Avoid drinking with meals. This prevents your stomach acid from getting diluted.

- Try as best you can to eat slowly and chew your food fully

- When the bloating pain is at it's worst, laying flat on your stomach or with your butt in the air gives your organs the greatest surface area for the gas to spread across, reducing the pain. Try rolling on your side occasionally to let gravity move the air through you until you can fart it out (I know...it's ridiculous).

- Mint pills seem to help a little. As do papaya suppliments you take right after eating to help digestion. This could be snake oil, but it seems to help me a little. You can get them at any suppliment store such as GNC.

If I can think of more I'll post later. Good luck.

I've had this for all of my life. It sucks when I am sitting in class and feel that gas running up my throat, only to let out that relentless "blargh" It is very embarrassing. When I feel it coming I try to stop it by pressing against my throat, and it works sometimes. Or I suck in a lot of air and apply pressure to my abdomen area (like if you want to fart a big one) I also have been gassy for most of my life. I feel safe saying that I fart more than I blink, haha. Just today I decided to look this up under the keywords "Can't burp?" and I was directed to this board, a very informative one. Well, this does not really bother me as my case is not too severe but it has obliged me to give up soda. Ever since I stopped drinking soda, the bloated feeling hasn't come back, but I still get those gurgles.

i have the same thing! i just got back from chili's tonight and i got the crisper bites. i could only eat 1 and 1/2 because i bloat too quickly. i also get those disgusting gurgles and no one seems to understand why i can't eat and my parents yell at me for it so i really need help.

I have had this same problem, getting progressively worse over the last 9 years. I am now 24. I have some advice, and also some questions.

I gave up all milk and softdrink and this helped reduce the pain. I think the lactose has a lot to do with the pain. I do not dance and drink at the same time. This is asking for trouble. But I can dance without drinking. Do not think this has anything to do with bubbles, even drinking 2ltrs or water and dancing causes trouble, but 600ml seems okay.

I used to do the laying down, but this just eases until the gas moves the other way, it will not release the gas. I do not stick the 2 fingers down, instead I have for the last 2 years been practicing gagging using stomach muscles to push the air up. Basically, I stand over the basin, suck air into my throat and then convulce my throat. I am not sure that I am explaining this well, but basically it is the same as vomiting.

At first you might suffer pain from sucking in the air, and it takes time to get good at vomiting the air without the fingers, but after 2 years I am also actually burping much much more!

The burping is still small and involuntary, but I have gone from 1-2 burps in 6 months, to 4-6 a week. I can also do the vomit bump easily knowing I will not vomit. It sounds gross, but it is a quick release. Also, my burping and farting have reduced and I am down to 1-2 nights of pain a fortnight (from almost every evening after dinner), which means I am not worried about farting while teaching. The only drawback is that I cannot control when the burps come up - and people react strangly when I beam like a person after burping on the bus

Also, to Mattcwb, yes, I do get throat fatigue. I don;t know if this is related...

And support: If you have a partner that makes you feel inferior or weird due to your gurgling/gagging/farting, dump that fool. Your partner should love you for your personality, as should your friends. My partner and friends understand that I have a bit of a quirk, and as long as I don't fart while their eating everything is steller

I have this problem too. The gurgles, bloating, discomfort, painful hiccups, wind, embarrassment. I've tried the fingers down the throat thing but can't seem to get it right. I once found a website called 'i can't burp' but haven't been able to find it again. Try searching for it. There was heaps of info there, and I nearly wet myself laughing too because I had no idea others suffered this and their stories were so familiar I was almost in tears laughing! Apparently, the problem is the upper esophageal sphincter - it won't relax enough to let a burp out. Maybe we all need a shot of botox in our upper esophageal sphincters? I just like saying 'sphincter'.

amtbc, i posted all the time at that message board. it was called "my whim is law-can't burp" or something of that nature. but you're right, it's gone. i had it saved under my favorited for forever and noticed one day the link stopped working. sucks, huh?

slopps, did you see dr. k? please please please let us know how it went!