A woman who couldn’t burp has been cured following ground-breaking research into her condition. 

Brittany Sangastiano thinks she developed an inability to burp because her brother had an overactive gag reflex as a child and so vomited “constantly”. 

“Because I saw him throwing up so many times, I think that I developed a real fear of vomiting and therefore developed the inability to burp,” she told Moncrieff. 

Whenever air would come up, her muscles began to clench painfully in order to keep it down. 

“It wasn’t until later in life that this started to become something that I noticed - especially as I grew older and started I realised that this was something that [other people] were easily able to do and I wasn’t,” she said.  

“I would get super bloated, cramped, I would feel a lot of pain and the one really embarrassing thing that would happen is that because the muscle at the top of my throat was tightly closed, the air would still seep through and you would hear a really embarrassing croaking noise. 

“So, imagine you’re in a silent college class or anywhere where it’s quiet enough to hear a pin drop - you would be able to hear my throat making these croaking noises.” 

B5YGFM doctor standing behind desk-side view

Brittany first sought help as a child and was told, “I think you’re fine - just don’t drink soda.” 

Ironically, she did not drink soda and no one in the medical profession took her seriously for years. 

Eventually, she found something on Reddit in 2019 and realised there was not only a name for the condition but also a treatment. 

That year a doctor had given it the name Retrograde Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction (R-CPD) and Brittany booked a plane ticket to see him in Chicago. 

The treatment was 100 units of botox injected into her muscles which was designed to relax them. 

“Shockingly, I burped on the plane ride home from Chicago for the first time,” she said.  

For the first two weeks she was unable to control it and on the way into work she burped 26 times. 

Her body now knows it is “satisfying” to let air go and it has changed her life. 

“I burp all the time after every meal - like a normal person,” she said. 

“No bloating, no cramping, no pain whatsoever and none of those really awkward gurgling noises either.”

Main image: Brittany Sangastiano.