I don't know if it's too late for any of you to see my post, but I had this exact same problem for the first 24 years of my life. I had gurgling after every meal, I hardly ever burped and when I did it was quiet, and always a surprise, and I would sometimes be incapacitated for 2 or 3 days without anything really able to help. Then about 2 years ago, I came up with this exercise and in about 5 weeks I was totally "cured", and have not had an issue with it since. I recently sent an email to someone describing this whole thing and I'll post it below. I hope this helps everyone! If anyone wants to contact me directly with any questions, my email is
[email protected].
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Hey,
First I'll explain sort of how I came up with the exercise, and then I think it'll be easier for you to try. After an episode of the gurgling and what not, I began thinking that it was strange that my body was physically capable of making a "burp" sound, and yet I was not able to actually burp. So then I began thinking, maybe there is something about that "burp" sound, that even if I couldn't actually burp, maybe just "faking" it would provide some relief. That night after I ate dinner, I began getting mild gurgling, and so I decided to try out my theory. As I felt a gurgle moving up my throat, I began mocking the burp sound (which sounded a lot like the "red-rum" sound the kid makes in the Shining movie, if you've ever seen it-here's a link if you haven't:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iwK2jwqFfk - sorry if you don't like scary movies). Anyway, my fake burp sound was similar to that, and as I made it, I would try "following" the gurgle up while contracting my stomach muscles, as if to push the gurgle up. Initially, I was hopeful, because it seemed to provide a little bit of relief, and I figured, if I did it every time I had a gurgle, it would prevent severe discomfort in the long run, and unless someone was really paying attention, it would be hard to tell I wasn't actually burping. But then, around the 5th or 6th time I was doing it, the "red-rum" noise led right into a burp! And so I continued trying to lead the gurgles with the "redrum" noise while following it up my throat with a stomach contraction, every 6 or 7 tries, I'd get a small burp.
So I continued doing this every time I ate, or felt a gurgle, trying each time to open my throat more and more, and constantly trying to get it more relaxed. And as the days went by, I was consistently getting burps more and more often, until I could get a burp almost every time I did the "red-rum" followed by the muscle contraction. Then as I became more consistent, the lead in for the "red-rum" nose became shorter and shorter before I got the burp, until after about 5 weeks, I didn't need any lead in at all. And now, almost 2 years out, I burp totally normally, as if I never had an issue with it, even though it was a constant problem I dealt with almost every time I ate anything, for the first 24 years of my life. It's even to a point now, where sometimes people get annoyed by my burping, but I never apologize for doing it, because they don't know how terrible it is if you can't burp.
Anyway, if none of that makes any sense, maybe we could try skype or something and I could show you the exercise. I've since explained the exercise to a handful of friends that I discovered had the same problem, and every one of them is "cured." My theory is that our condition probably stemmed from a strong aversion to throwing up when we were little kids, and since burping feels very similar to throwing up, we got very good at holding everything down, and never developing the "burp reflex." I feel very bad for Julia, on youtube, for having to go through so many tests and taking so much medication, for something I believe can be fixed, very easily, naturally, and painlessly.
I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. Let me know how everything goes. Remember, "redrum" as you feel a gurgle moving up, follow it with a stomach muscle contraction to "push it out", and focus on opening your throat as much as possible, while relaxing it as much as possible when making the "red-rum" sound; and it seems to take at least 5 weeks to become a natural reflex, so don't get impatient if you're not having a lot of success initially. Good luck!
-Steven
