#Retrograde Circopharangeas Dysfunction

[avoidingadvice]

Sigh. I know I literally just posted that other long thing that was rambley, but I can't sleep and I'm sad so I may as well talk about R-CPD.

Retrograde Circopharangeas Dysfunction is a really fancy way of saying you can't burp.

As an infant I could burp, but past that I somehow lost the ability. Basically it's a sphincter in your throat that becomes too tight and can't open for gas to escape so you can't burp. Some people that have it could burp as babies, but stopped at some point and some have had it right from infancy. As long as I could remember I could not burp.

For many years this didn't bother me and it wasn't an issue. Once I was an adult I began developing issues. The first time I had an episode I was at work and I had horrible hiccups that wouldn't go away. I kept swallowing air and I was in a lot of pain and felt I had to vomit.

R-CPD is often accompanied by a phobia of vomiting and I definitely have that.

I couldn't stop hiccuping and I felt absolutely horrible. I dry heaved a bit in the bathroom, but eventually everything passed and I was okay. It sucked for hours tho.

Eventually I developed a weird croak to release the gas in my stomach since I couldn't burp. This is a very common thing for "no burpers". It was embarrassing. People thought I was weird.

This went on for years and I never explored what could be wrong. I mentioned it to my family doctor one day and he mentioned r/noburp to me. I don't know how he happened to know about this because it's super obscure and not much is known.

One night I had a ginger ale and a smokie hotdog for supper and I had the worst stomach pain. I went to the washroom because I felt like I was going to vomit. I stood over the sink and began to feel lightheaded and woozy. I leaned over the sink and rested my forehead on the tap. Next thing I know I can hear my partner yelling my name and I wake up on the floor. My head had hit the garbage can in the bathroom and broken it. My partner called his dad, the local fire chief (and he lives next door, how convenient), and he checked me out real quick before my partner took me to the ER. We have never gotten to town that fast before. I was apparently pale as a ghost and I wasn't super coherent. They put me in a bed, checked vitals, took blood, I told them about R-CPD, and eventually the whole thing passed and I felt well enough to go home. All I ended up with was a welt on my head and I was fine. I just had horrible gas built up in my stomach and it caused me so much pain I fainted.

The Reddit community was wildly helpful for me. At this point I had learned how to force a croak out and someone else on Reddit said soon after they were able to force croaks they eventually were able to teach themselves how to burp. The community is filled with tips for teaching yourself how to burp. I began drinking carbonated water every single day and lo and behold I can now burp all on my own. I effectively cured myself.

The only treatment for it is a Botox injection into the sphincter that is too tight and this doesn't always work the first time and people often have to get it more than once. It also isn't often covered by healthcare because there's ONE study on it (since I last checked). Not many doctors know about it so by some miracle mine just happened to know and I'm SO glad because now I'm cured! It's like nothing was wrong!

I still have a phobia of vomiting, but honestly that's a non-issue imo. I can now burp and I no longer experience the worst R-CPD symptoms.

If you can't burp or know someone else that can't it could very likely be this. Have a look into it. I am so incredibly glad I figured it out and I'm now better off.