I Can't Burp

I am another excited burp free sufferer, I was so frustrated that I typed in "I cant burp and so happy to have found you all. I am a little disapointed that there doesn't seem to be any real answers but I am excited nonetheless.
I remember sitting on my back porch with my sisters at about 8 years old they couldnt believe that I couldnt burp my ABC's, there we sat,, root beers lined up as they made me drink,, swallow air,,, Burp!,, nothing, well that is where my story begins and here I sit 30 years later and no idea why I cant burp. The throat noises have plagued me for years, I have also tried the finger in the throat and that has helped several times but it hasnt lately,, and try that in a public bathroom at a nice restaurant.
I drink baking soda mixed with water and also take Gas x when I have a real flare up but nothing seem to help. we are all looking for answers, I would appreciate any recomendations. Question Do any of you have ear problems, related to altitude? Thanks for understanding because nobody ever has!

My daughter is 20 and still cannot burp. (She sure has flatulance though!) Digestive enzymes help a lot, but she still doesn't burp. However, when my son feels he needs to burp and can't, (usually he can) he eats a small pinch of baking soda and burps within a few minutes. If you try this, be careful to not ingest too much baking soda. Just a pinch or two should do the job if it's going to work at all. Don't keep eating baking soda! And if you haven't tried digestive enzymes yet, do try them. They can't hurt you, but they can help MANY problems. Good luck to all.

SammyQ said "And don't tell me to stop drinking beer/soda. That's not a cure."

That's so true . When I told my doctor I get it more often when I drink a coke or beer, he just said "Well don't drink it then." with a DUH look on his face like I was a total fool. When I told another "specialist" in the hospital that I feel very nauseated after a heavy meal (like regular hot dinner), she just told me "Stop eating heavy meals then. Just eat light meals". What kind of an answer is that!? That's something that really ticks me off. I'm not a hypochondriac although sometimes in the past they made me doubt myself. I feel fine on all other accounts except for unrelated headaches I get but I don't run to the doctor every week/month with a new symptom... I don't think I have a serious disease or whatever. Actually I gave up on doctors about a year ago.
I kinda compare it to my own job. I'm in IT and a lot of people ask me for help when they have a problem with their computer. When people tell me "hey my Word doesn't work." or something I don't have the luxury of telling them to stop writing documents... I have to fix the problem, period! I wish the doctors would not have that luxury either...

I also saw some posts about a doctor in Chicago. If someone here ever manages to get a consultation, why not point him to this thread? Or point other doctors to this thread. After seeing the amount of people that describe the problem here, they should realize that we're not making it up! Hell, they might even make a name for themselves in the medical community if they report this as a new medical condition and maybe even find a cure. I would even be very happy when they just found something to relieve the symptoms, not cure the condition.

I must say that I'm even more impressed with this thread now then when I first posted. It keeps on going and more and more people are finding their way here. This is in a strange sense a comfort.

One last thing : I haven't found a cure or anything. But what I did experience in the last half year is two things : 1. exercise helps. Not right from the beginning, you'll need to stick with it for a few months. But I started to run and swim. In the beginning I could do like six laps in the swimming pool before feeling sick. Now I do sixty laps once a week without a problem. And I can eat like a horse afterward and don't feel sick. I think this is because I just used up a lot of energy and my body needs to convert food ASAP into energy, it doesn't have the luxury of letting the food sit there in the stomach and make me feel sick :p.
And 2. I stopped drinking during meals. I used to drink a lot during a meal, but now I force myself to finish my plate first and drink a glass afterward. I think this makes it easier for your stomach to drench the food with stomach acid to get it to digest. Otherwise, if you drink in between bites, the drink will wash away the acid.

Anyway, just my two cents. But I still suffer from the problem a lot. Someone please come up with a cure .

BTW I've noticed that most people here seem to be from the US. I'm from Belgium. So excuse some of my badly written English .

Well, I think I have every sympton mentioned on here. Heartburn being the worst for me. I'm 21 and have had this problem since I was about 10. The first thing I noticed was that I suddenly got extremely nausous in the mornings until I ate something, then it would go away. I am happy to say that I haven't had that problem in over a year now, but my other problems are getting worse. I can't burp, I'm always bloated, I get violent hiccups that are extremely painful, my jaw locks up (only in the morning though), I get slight pain in my ears sometimes, and I also make the dinosaur/frog sounds.

Carbonated drinks are the worst, which sucks because I absolutely love beer and always have to limit myself. Although I have noticed that Nitrogen pressurized beers don't give me any problems, or at least haven't yet. I can drink Guinness or Boddington's all day, so I suggest you beer lovers try them if you haven't already. I've also noticed that light beers are worse, and that the thicker, darker beers seem to be less of a problem. Maybe it's just me though.

I have never tried the finger in the throat method, although I will now. What does help me is to lay down and take 2 to 3 Tums, then it's gone almost instantly. Still it's hard to do that in a restaurant without looking like an fool. Another trick is to sit up straight and tilt your head back as far as you can making your throat as straight of a line down to your stomache as possible. Then kinda push on your belly and try to force air out. Do this continuously. The longer you do it the closer your frog sounds will be to sounding like an actual burp. However, this also can make you look retarded in a social situation.

Also, anybody else here a stomache sleeper? I sleep on my stomache every night, which I always assumed was the source of my jaw problems.

I am so relieved to have found all of you I could cry! I don't feel like as much of an outsider. I'm fourteen and have this awful suffering, along with my mom. We always tell everyone about this, and they just look at us like we're insane... my dad thinks so too.

I wish there was some doctor out there that would take our condition into consideration rather than shunning us like we're madmen.

After every meal or drink, soda, water or any liquid the gases climb up to my throat and form some kind of a line of bubbles (that's what i feel) and it somehow clogs my throat and gives me this uncomftable feeling and it takes hours of relaxation and laying down to get rid of those gases.. i have only burped once in my life and it was pretty funny, i fell of a bike at the age of 15 right on my stomach which squeezed the gases out of my throat.. the fall was rather relaxing than painful . Now i just use the gaging method but it's too embarrassing cause i have to do it after every meal or drink to be able to function in whatever i am doing after, and i cant do that with a party of people around me... I can't talk to people, i cant drive, i cant work out.. i pretty much cant do anything but lay down and wait for the gases to escape my body. I went to see a doctor about this whole thing, without any check ups or anything he told me i should eat slower and try to prevent breathing or talking while eating and to swallow smaller pieces of food. And about alcoholic drinks, I only get it from beer for some reason.. other hard liquor just relaxes my muscles but i cant drink beer, it bloats me and makes me feel like i have a ball of air inside my stomach

My entire life I have never been able to burp (regular) out loud and controlled. I am 22 female and looking for answers! I am a healthy individual who has been involved in sports my entire life and have no problems breathing. Sometimes I am able to let out an unnoticeable gurgle or I guess I'd call it more of an air release. I have never tried the finger down the throat action, but I don't think this would work for me. I have always found myself feeling nauseated after eating certain foods or like many have said always after beer... Some soda’s make me bloat and nauseated but for the most part clear sprite or 7up is fine in small quantities. In fact sometimes I am unable to tell when I am actually sick or if it’s just my normal almost day to day nausea that I experience. Almost every time before I vomit I will have a mass attack of burps and besides this I have only ever burped out loud about 3 times in my lifetime.
Since about 12 I have suffered from acid reflex and heart burn. I also am allergic to some foods and am not sure if these are related. Sometimes I feel a lump in the back of my throat but am unsure what this is related to. I avoid certain foods and beverages as well to hopefully prevent any discomfort/nausea.

Also mint flavored gum seems to help me feel better and sometimes mint Rolaids and even just mints in general (? Anyone else?) Doesn’t help me burp but for some reason it helps. Not sure why.

I had this exact same problem up until about 2 years ago. I always felt like I would have a burp coming, then I would tense in natural preparation and somehow the burp would always end up getting squelched and make that strange growl noise as it headed back down to my stomach. The relief came one day, ironically enough, from simply 'practicing' to burp. It seems that my personal issue was tension or muscle related---like every time I had to burp I would focus on it and yet do something subtle to stop it unknowingly before release. It was such a habit that it seemed out of my control and just felt like my natural inability to burp. However, I've come to believe it is purely a musle-memory related issue.

Perhaps from feeding as a baby, or just by some wicked effect of the brain. "A watched pot never boils" as they say; and I think it applies partly here.

Now that's my story but here is the meat and potatoes:

- When you feel a burp coming, try to relax deeply and slow your breathing. Don't tighten up and don't try to 'help' the burp. It's already forcing it's way up, you just have to be passive to it. I guarantee quite a few of you might have already realized what you are doing just by me saying it.

-Have a friend or family member mildly pat you on the back. Not hard, but not soft like a baby necessarily. This was my first step in a successful burp because it shook up my tense reponse to a burp and let the burp fly before I even knew it was coming. There should have been fireworks I swear to god.

-Practice. It might sound silly, but like I've stated a couple of times now--my burping was being hindered by muscle memory. You have to teach your muscles to not try to do anything during a burp. Burps are just escaping gas; they just need your body to open the door.

-Deep breaths with pauses. Relaxation is the key. Burping requires zen. Try it with a soda. Drink up and ease into long deep breathing with intermittent pauses. Concentrate on relaxing your diaphram, don't concentrate on the burp--just try to relax.

I wish I could just tell you to take a pill and it'll go away. With a little free time though, I think what happened with me could end up helping some of you.

I cannot believe I didn't think of this myself! I am a Health and Human Kinetics major and it completely makes sense! Thanks for the reply! I will definitely try relaxing more when I feel the tension build haha! Everytime I feel pressure like a burp is coming - I do tense up and almost try to force the burp out.. which eventually leads to the gurgle back into my stomach. I hope this is the answer!

For those of you who aren't familiar with muscle-memory.. there are several articles on the web about it. Just go to google and type "muscle Memory" and you are set!

With lots of Hope! Thank you so much!

Same story, same symptoms, different person.
These stories are great! It is relieving to hear that we are not alone. I wont go on about my symptoms, except to say that each and every thing mentioned here I have experienced.
Thank you for all of your advice, you have saved me tons of wasted money. I was prepared to see my doctor. Instead I found this and you have taught me so much, you also have made me laugh histerically for nearly 2 hours as I read!
I have taken the advice and bought the digestive enzymes, I bought lactose free milk, and wore loose pants today. What a HUGE difference in how I feel.
So far, knock on wood, I have not had any gas/bloating in my stomach. But then again its only the afternoon.
I have saved this to my favorites so that I can keep up with comments or solutions anyone has found.
I do have a few questions for any of you:
Do you know any side effects you will have good or bad about the digestive enzymes? I have bought the acidophilus probiotic complex 1.5billion (looking at the 10billion).
When you need to use the bathroom, do you have unusually large BM's?
When I was a kid I could have swore that thing was big as my arm! Even my mom was shocked. This still happens to me now but not as often.
I dont know, was just wondering if it might be related.
Great messages and great advice guys! I appreciate it!

I just found this forum, and I'm relieved to find there are people with the same problem as me. I'm 21, and I've only burped maybe five times since I was a baby, and they've been teeny-weeny involuntary burps. I've always had to fart more than most, but my gurgling and air-vomiting trouble started in my mid teens. When I eat out, I start to feel bloated, and I have to find a hiding place to vomit air. I haven't tried sticking my finger in my mouth. It comes out on its own like a loud, forced, very unpleasant burp. I think it's linked to anxiety because back in high school it happened every time I ate out no matter what I ate or how hungry I was but rarely at home. My anxiety is less now than it was, so it doesn't happen as often. I haven't been able to find much of a pattern to the gurgling noises except that they almost never happen when I'm in bed, maybe because I'm lying down. I've noticed that moving my adam's apple down and keeping it there makes the gurgling less noisy. I also regularly get the hiccups after I eat or drink. I haven't tried seeking medical attention about the gurgling, air-vomiting, or inability to burp. Now that I've found this forum I'll be checking back to see what treatment options become available, even to just be able to burp because a guy who can't burp is really missing out.

I'm 21 years old, only burped 3 times in my life (which were back to back to back in one setting), and that was before vomiting in 3rd grade due to the stomach virus.

I gurgle all the time, and never vomit(14+ years). I fart all the time. I have never done the finger in the throat thing, I'm thinking mine is not quite as bad as some of you.

Recently, it may be getting worse. I thought it was Birth Control that was doing this to me, but maybe not. I have been more than usually nauseous the last 5 months (same amount of time I have been on BCPs), usually helped when gargling and farting starts. I put my butt in the air too, lol. Now I'm wondering if this nausea is from this problem.

I'm so glad to have found you guys. I am finally not alone. I sure hope they figure this out soon, because some of y'all suffer a lot.

Ok... I am back again! While the not chewing gum thing seemed to work for 2 weeks my burps are back and they are now worse than BEFORE!!! I am so angry at having this thing every day.

Eating and drinking seem to be the thing that sets it off for me so I guess I will not be doing either until I know I am home for the day - very healthy for me!

I wish just one of the doctors I have asked about this would take me seriously I suppose when I have lost enough weight from only eating one meal per day they may start to pay attention?!

It's nice to know that I am not the only one. Until now I've been embarrassed by my abnormal gurgles not to mention the painful bloating! I don't usually post messages in forums but I just could not pass this one up. I was just suffering from pains in my ribcage when I finally said I'm going to sit down at the computer and search until I figure out why I can't burp! I'm still in pain but I am happy that I found this forum and possibly get some information!

I experience this non-burping problem on almost a daily basis. I have never intentionally belched nor do I seem to have the physical capacity to do so. Though gagging myself does work to expel air, I have thrown up as a result from this method as well, which is not a good thing for me-- I am already VERY thin.
To the folks who thought this might have to do with food, I can say that the buzzing and creaking sounds in my esophagus rarely seem to occur after a meal. If anything, sometimes eating certain foods can help to cause the gas to subside. If I drink carbonated beverages, though, I can get a pain in my stomach and esophagus that is unbearable, as well as an audible sound.
Does anyone else have problems with salivation associated with this as well? Sometimes when I get the buzzing in my esophagus it seems to come along with a feeling of excessive or abnormal salivation.

I've been having the same problem as all of you. I can't remember ever burping!

Sticking my fingers down my throat doesn't sound too appealing either, but maybe I'll try it one day.

I dont get a lot of extreme pain with it, but I deal with the gurgling "frog" sound in my chest/throat all of the time. Especially when I lay down. It can be pretty annoying! I guess that is our form of really extended burping!

I've noticed one thing.. and I wonder if anyone else is like this. When I lay down, If I lay on my left side I get the gurgling noise. If I lay on my right.. I dont.. or at least its not a constant.. does anyone else have something similar?

I'm going to see a Gastroenterologist on Friday for something unrelated to this at least I think... I thought I had gallstones causing really bad abdominal pain.. but they did a cat scan and ultra sound and say its ok.. but I have some blood in my "business".. so Im getting a colonoscopy.. cant wait..

But I'll run the not being able to burp thing by him and see if he's ever heard of it. I'll probably just get looked at funny.. but obviously its a REAL problem..

I'll keep you posted!

There is hope! From the research I've done its called the dysfunction of the blech reflex. It has something to do with the upper esophageal sphincter not opening to let the air out. Its being studied by a doctor in chicago named Dr. Kahrilas.
One of his patients started a support group. In addition to the group she started a myspace page and has posted a few videos with information on you tube.
This is the link to her myspace. From there you can email her for the link to the support group.
http:// blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog .view&friendID=352997835&blogID=43 3744483

So I hope you all don't give up hope in your search for answers. It seems now we are getting some attention from the medical community and hopefully it will bring us some help and answers!