Woman who wasn't able to burp for 43 years reveals how procedure using Botox changed her life

While most people turn to Botox for cosmetic reasons, this woman had it so that she could burp.

Yes, you read that correctly; Gemma Renwick found that Botox alleviated her symptoms of retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction (R-CPD), also known as 'no burp syndrome'.

R-CPD is a condition where a person's neck muscles don't relax to allow air to exit the stomach and esophagus, Yale Medicine explains.

Symptoms of R-CPD include the inability to burp, abdominal bloating, gurgling sounds from the neck and chest, excessive flatulence – all of which Gemma said caused her 'pain every day'.

Opening up about living with it, Gemma shared on ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I’ve always had the inability to burp, and it’s caused a lot of issues. It’s not just, you know, the fact that I can’t burp. It’s trapped wind, awful bloating, pain every day."

She continued: "It is really debilitating. You swallow air when you’re eating, you’re drinking, talking, swallowing saliva, like it’s constant all day."

Gemma used prosecco as an example of something she struggled to drink, and said the pain was 'excruciating'.

"It would get to a point where you physically can't fit anything else in," she explained. "It feels like you can't breathe. You can't swallow. It's like a build up of– I can only describe it as pressure."

Gemma added: "As awful as it sounds, I had to teach myself to manually burp, which it sounds horrendous, but it’s basically making yourself gag, so the reflex opens to get the air out, which was traumatic in itself and embarrassing."

To fix the issue, Gemma's since had something she called 'Throatox' (a Botox injection into the throat muscle). She credits injection for changing her life.

Gemma Renwick suffers with retrograde cricopharyngeus dysfunction (ITV/Good Morning Britain)

The Botox gave her the ability to burp, and she said the first time she did it was 'amazing'.

"The relief from that pain and pressure, and just to feel normal, you know, feel like a normal person again," said Gemma.

Apparently Little Mix star Jade Thrilwall suffers with the same thing. Gemma has been sharing her story on TikTok and the 'Angels of My Dreams' hitmaker commented on one of her posts.

She wrote: "Omg I finally feel so seen and understood. It’s always been a fun fact that I can’t burp, but it’s caused issues my whole life and I’m sick of people commenting on my weight and body onstage when I’m just bloated … I want to get the throatox but worried it’ll affect my vocals."

Jade Thrilwall said she suffers with the same thing as Gemma (Samir Hussein/WireImage)

'Throatox' is said to be pretty effective when it comes to treating R-CPD.

A study published in 2020 found that of 200 patients treated with Botox, 99.5 percent were able to burp and 95 percent experienced relief of the cardinal symptoms of R-CPD.

"79.9% experienced lasting relief of their symptoms beyond pharmacologic duration of action after a single injection of botulinum toxin into the cricopharyngeus muscle," the study adds.