A life without burping might sound idyllic, but the accompanying pain and discomfort is nothing of the sort. No-burp syndrome is more common than you would think, and this is how to fix it.
I can’t burp. This is something I have always been strangely proud of, but the no-burp life isn’t all that.
My body still releases gas, just not in the traditional belch I have longed for all my life. Instead, my stomach balloons, my throat gargles, and the air eventually finds a way to escape – just out the other end.
Burping was something I had only ever dreamed of. That was until a few months ago, when my friend sent me a TikTok of a woman attempting the Sprite challenge, a trend in which people try to drink a whole bottle of Sprite without belching.
After finishing the fizzy drink, 24-year-old Bailey was unable to burp and had to lie down on her left side to ease the stomach discomfort.
“This is you,” my friend wrote.
“Omg I thought it was just me!!! I literally can’t burp and my throat makes the exact same noises!!!” replied one viewer, in a comment with nearly 19,000 likes.
I realised I was not alone.
There exists a condition called “no-burp syndrome”, known by medical professionals as retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction (R-CPD). It occurs when the upper oesophageal sphincter cannot ever fully relax, preventing the release of the little air pockets we know to be burps.
It wasn’t officially discovered until 2019, but there has long been an online community of non-burpers, nearly 25,000 of whom occupy the r/noburp subreddit. Most have lived unaware of the prevalence of the condition and have suffered in silence as a result.
Esme Stanford-Durkin, 25, was one of these people. She stumbled across the subreddit in a desperate attempt to confront her pain and bloating after the birth of her daughter.
She said: “As I got older the symptoms of R-CPD got worse and I started to realise some of the funny things I did, no one else did.”
During her pregnancy, Esme experienced agonising bloating in the late afternoon.
“I learnt to deal with the side effects by laying down on my stomach for a good while, cancelling my plans and waiting it out.
“But when you have a newborn baby, a couple of hours to yourself isn’t possible,” she added.
That’s when Esme decided to seek help.
The Botox burp
“R-CPD is treated by injection of high dose Botox into the cricopharyngeal muscle,” explained Mr Yakubu Karagama, a leading ears, nose and throat (ENT) consultant.
“The Botox works by temporarily paralysing this muscle to allow the burping reflex to re-establish.”
Mr Karagama has been a practising surgeon and laryngologist for over 30 years, and operates a private practice in Cheadle for various ENT problems – including R-CPD.
He said patients have described the Botox treatment as “life-changing”, ridding them of stomach pain, chest pain, and bloating.
“[Patients] are always worried about going out for meals and drinks and socialising, as every meal or drink can make the symptoms worse,” but Mr Karagama said – after treatment – “their quality of life improves significantly – physically, emotionally, socially and mentally.”
The treatment costs £4,431 in full, if done by Mr Karagama in his Manchester clinic at Alexandra Hospital. This includes an initial consultation (£250), a diagnostic test (£263) and the procedure itself (£3,912).
Esme told Mancunian Matters her consultation and procedure, both done on the same day in London, cost only £850. She was able to burp within 36 hours.
In a TikTok with over three million views and nearly half a million likes, Esme documented her R-CPD treatment journey.
She said: “It is still working better and better everyday as I learn to burp better. I now feel like it is second nature, I honestly can’t imagine how I managed without it.
“It’s completely changed my life. The side effects aren’t bad and they last such a little time. Not being able to burp was a source of most of my pain and anxiety. I would do it a thousand times again, but I don’t need to!”
The future of burping
Unlike Esme, many non-burpers have yet to discover their condition has a name, let alone a cure. Ali Irvine, 24, from Edinburgh, has never burped in her life, but she’s in no rush to change that.
She said: “Rather than burping I just have little air bubbles that come up slowly over a couple of hours.
“I don’t really feel that I’m missing out on not burping. Maybe the relief would be life changing for me and I just don’t know it.”
Natalie Bickel, 29, is also a lifelong non-burper. When Natalie needs to burp, she says air moves up into her throat and makes “a noise that resembles a frog,” but doesn’t provide much relief.
She also believes her inability to burp is causing bloating. “If a treatment could alleviate my bloating I would 100% do it,” she added. But Natalie doesn’t feel she’s missing out on burping.
No-burp syndrome is hugely under-researched. But thanks to its recent social media attention, R-CPD is becoming more widely recognised in the medical world. There is even a petition to make its treatment available on the NHS, which currently has over 5,000 signatures.
So it looks like there might be a burp in my future. Now I know there’s a whole army of non-burpers out there, though, it’s not something I’m so proud of any more – but at least I’ve found my people.
