I was never able to burp — until I got a Botox injection
She couldn’t stomach it anymore.
Natalie Bickel, from Indiana, has a rare condition called retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction, also known as no-burp syndrome, meaning that she has spent years unable to burp.
The disorder occurs when the cricopharyngeus muscle (a muscle around the esophagus) cannot relax, so air is not able to escape the esophagus, according to Yale Medicine.
“I was extra-bloated all the time,” Bickel, 29, told Kennedy News and Media. “I couldn’t relieve gas until the digestion process started.”
“I couldn’t fit in my clothes,” she continued. “It was just very uncomfortable.”
Because of the condition, Bickel was only able to release gas by flatulence, a move that made her husband, Jacob, laugh — but the symptoms affected her self-confidence.
“It stopped me from hanging out with people and going to events, as I felt so bloated, and I didn’t know what to wear,” she explained.
It was Jacob who encouraged her to seek treatment after he did some research.
It took two years and different treatment methods, such as eliminating certain foods from her diet, to finally find the solution: Botox.
The toxin in Botox can prevent the cricopharyngeal muscle from tightening or closing.
In May, an ear, nose and throat specialist administered Bickel’s throat injection at a hospital in Kentucky.
The procedure took all of 10 minutes — Bickel says she has “seen improvement, but it’s not been life-changing.”
“I’m able to burp, but they are completely unexpected,” she admitted.
She still isn’t able to burp on command, like other people can.
“I can’t force the air out when it feels like it needs to come out,” she explained. “It’s funny because I gasp every time I have a burp because they’re so random.”
She shared that her bloating has lessened, and she is having “less flatulence” — but still more than the average person.
“My husband finds my flatulence funny, but it’s definitely not ideal,” she confessed.
Bickel’s journey is not over yet — she will return to the doctor for a checkup next month, and is planning to get another Botox injection.
This might be her shot to burp on demand.
