Yeah, there’s basically a “valve” muscle in the esophagus called the upper esophageal sphincter (either a part of the cricopharynx, vice versa, or they’re the same… Not sure). It stays closed for the most part, but opens for swallowing and burping. Swallowing is generally fine, but burping not so much. You may have seen the term R-CPD in the thread, that stands for Retrograde (outward direction) Cricopharyngeal Dysfunction. There’s a similar condition called achalasia, which is also treated with Botox, but that also has swallowing issues unlike R-CPD.

Anyway, the Botox helps that muscle relax. The body metabolizes it after several months, but in that time you have “training wheels” that help develop muscle memory to burp. About 80% of people are “one and done” with that one shot. I personally had a second and don’t really have “tasteable” burps, but I do have small ones that seem to help.

It’s funny, because before I suspected that issue in my daughter we saw a pediatric ENT (the type of doctor who performs the procedure). Knowing it’s an obscure thing many doctors have a hard time grasping, I told him about it figuring it may plant a seed for some parent in the future. His response? “That’s funny, I don’t burp either. What you said makes sense though.” I would have loved to go back to him, but unfortunately he moved across the country in the meantime. Ended up going to another doctor in the practice who is amazing though!

The main ones you see almost universally are

• excessive flatulence (it’s gotta come out somewhere),
• bloating comparable with pregnancy (usually equivalent to what you’d see after several months in, but occasionally people look full term!)
• Weird gurgling noises in the throat

There are also things like hiccups, hypersalivation, constipation, and things like that that are common but not guaranteed.

My daughter has been pretty underweight for a while. I realized she’s had massive farts, and a bit of a big belly given the rest of her relatively small size. She was super hard to burp as an infant (that varies a lot in adults with the condition) and it pretty much stopped after a while. Basically the bloat kills the appetite.

Pretty much. It affects people differently, but one guy talked to manually any doctor who would listen. Dr. Bastian in Chicagoland has a YouTube channel about laryngology (basically all throat stuff) and that guy who had so many issues with not being able to burp contacted Dr. Bastian about it. He told him to get some Botox on the muscle of the throat that releases gas, and the guy ended up flying to Chicago to have it done. Dr. Bastian is pretty legendary in that community now. He also has a very impressive background even before that.

I actually went to that practice for my first injection and was originally booked to see Dr. Bastian. He fell sick the week I was there, but another doctor in the practice was able to do it instead since I came from out of town. Honestly everyone there is great!

But also, I saw similar symptoms in my toddler daughter, who was very underweight (getting better!). It was hard, because it can be difficult enough to find someone willing to do it for an adult, but a young child? Nobody wants to take that risk. Most specialists I talked to thought it made sense, but it really wasn’t their area (fair) or they’d get skeptical. The ENT we saw about it was HORRIBLE and basically chased us out because it was a zebra. Eventually I booked a telehealth visit with Dr. Bastian just to see if I was projecting my own experiences on her, and he was the kindest man. Sent a letter with his opinion for me to show other providers, and I think it really helped show I wasn’t insane.

Daughter eventually had it done by a pediatric ENT doctor who has done it before. She did great for several days but snapped back after an endoscopy about a week later. We’re trying again in about a month and a half!

Sorry to ramble, but this has been such a big thing for me personally!

I would strongly suggest getting the treatment if you can! It’s a super simple procedure.

I was a part of the noburp community on the old site. In the last decade it’s been used to cure that. The body metabolizes it after about 6 months, but having that assistance often helps build the muscle memory and people can usually burp after that. I personally had it done twice and can still do small burps at last, and my daughter (toddler, born very prematurely) had it done at the beginning of the year. Her physical medicine doctor mentioned it as a possibility, and when I told him about the burping thing he basically equated Botox in the medical community with Windex in My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Friendly reminder that SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in an opinion authored by none other than Neil Gorsuch that discrimination by sexual orientation and gender identity is inherently discrimination by sex. If that was actually the reason, that school is in for a rough time.

I’m assuming this is just for felonies? I was on a 6-person jury in Colorado (obviously relatively progressive) recently, but it was a misdemeanor. I believe felony cases have the full 12.

Ahhh yeah, I forgot some places (generally including Chicago, it would seem) do that.

If they do, can they also fully capitalize HUSSEIN in the name, as someone else seems to insist on doing all the time?

To shreds, you say?

The receipt will span the entire pool. I mean, it would anyway for a candy bar at that place but it will here too!

I don’t think that he’ll be that much more prominent over this happening

That’s what you’re clinging to at this point? How do I know it wasn’t all a ploy? Dude, excuse me for one adjective mixed in my comment but not everything is the conspiracy you seem to want it to be

I do? I was fact-checking a specific point. I never said that the Democrats were the infallible party of the people, but because I gave more detail about a vague, misleading-at-best statement that means I need to defend everything else?

I like facts and knowledge. You can’t develop a good opinion without it. And when I see misinformation, even from people I generally agree with, I try to set the record straight.

When it comes to minimum wage, as the initial commenter mentioned. Not everything under the sun

Other guy: “Democrats didn’t even raise minimum wage”

Me: “Well, they tried that one thing. Here’s what happened for that particular issue, how it was attempted, and how the Senate’s screwed up rules stopped them”

You: “But they didn’t block the train strike!”

…

Anyway, yes, you got your point across. If only it had anything to do with mine of what happened on a different day

And if you change the subject you can always get your point across. Great job.

I’m talking about minimum wage and nothing else.

I’ll grant that they didn’t even try for a standalone minimum wage increase. I’d be curious to know how that would go too. But it was meant to go into one of the earlier spending bills that had to be passable by a simple majority. Those kinds of bills have certain requirements, or else they’re subject to the fucked up filibuster rules the Senate has.

The Senate parliamentarian ruled that a minimum wage increase was more than a budget change and did not fit those requirements. I thought Democrats’ argument that it affected revenue via resulting taxes and therefore budgeting was a reasonable one, but it didn’t quite fly.

Anyway, to say “the Ds couldn’t even be bothered to increase minimum wage under Biden” is a little disingenuous IMO. They did make one honest effort, at least, and anything else was pretty much doomed.

convicted and not just hearsay mind you

Just because I’m an absolute stickler for stuff like this… He was not, technically. “Convicted” means that he was found guilty in a criminal (government accused you of a crime) trial, beyond a reasonable doubt (that is, if the jury thought a defense could be reasonable, even if not totally likely, they must find the defendant not guilty).

The only sex-related trial Trump has gone through was the E Jean Carroll case. That was a civil case, where the defendant may or may not be found liable based on a preponderance of evidence (that is, jury found something was more likely than not the case and doubts that say otherwise are ok). The jury in that case found that yes, Trump sexually assaulted her and the actions that followed constituted defamation. Worth noting too that the jury found (by that same standard) that what he did was not rape her, although the judge later clarified that the actions constituted rape.

The reason I bring this up is that the jury had a much lower bar here than they would need for a conviction. They could have been 60% sure and that would fly for the trial he was in, but not for a criminal trial.