No burp syndromeRetrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction (R-CPD)

Transcript

If you've ever taken a big swig of a fizzy drink and you feel this sort of chest tightness and pain building up that just needs to be released with a burp, then you will know exactly the feeling that people with no burp syndrome suffer with every day. It can be so debilitating that people obviously avoid fizzy drinks, they can avoid alcohol, heavy food, and it has a massive impact on social engagement, because you just never know when this feeling is going to start.

The reason that that happens is because of a condition called retrograde cricopharyngeal dysfunction, and I'd like to explain it. At the bottom of your throat you have a muscle at the top of your oesophagus called cricopharyngeus. It relaxes to let food and drink down, and it relaxes again if you need to burp. People that have R-CPD have absolutely no issue with swallowing at all. Everything goes down absolutely fine. It's the retrograde flow that's the problem.

But the crazy thing is, the treatment's really straightforward, and we think the best treatment is to have a look down, stretch the muscle and inject Botox into the back of the muscle. The reason it's important to hit the back of the muscle is because Botox filters slightly out, and if you go to the front of the muscle, it can affect your voice. So if you hit the back of the muscle, that takes that tension out of cricopharyngeus.

And the best thing about it is that, unlike every other condition treated with Botox, it doesn't need to be repeated. Something to do with neuroplasticity in the brain makes the treatment effective, so that once you've had Botox once to the cric… it's gone through to the right area, that's it. Your brain rewires, and in the vast majority of people, that's it. R-CPD gone. No more no burp syndrome.

So if you think that that might be happening with you, just let us know, so we can make sure that you're getting the right treatment and the right advice right from the start.