Contents
Belching with air is an involuntary sudden release of odorless gases from the stomach or esophagus through the mouth.
Normally, each swallowing movement is accompanied by the ingestion of a small amount of air (within 2-3 ml), which is necessary to normalize intragastric pressure. Subsequently, the air imperceptibly leaves through the mouth in small portions.
A noticeable eructation of air occurs when excess air enters the stomach during the absorption of food, and in some cases outside this process. This phenomenon may indicate the presence of gastric pneumatosis or aerophagia.
With the normal functioning of the stomach, such an eructation is not accompanied by any unpleasant sensations, since the air leaving it has neither smell nor taste.
Separately, it is worth paying attention to neurotic aerophagia, which is characterized by the ingestion of air outside the consumption of food. In this case, belching with air can occur both after eating and at any other time, with the exception of the sleep period. This is already a pathological syndrome that requires the attention of a specialist.
Causes of belching air
To understand the causes that contribute to the occurrence of belching, you need to understand how the digestive system works. Food entering the mouth passes through the esophagus and enters the stomach. If a person overeats, then the air present in the stomach comes out. This is a variant of the norm and only confirms that the organs of the digestive system are working smoothly. Therefore, if, after a hearty lunch or dinner, a person experiences belching with ordinary air that has no smell, then this is not a cause for any concern.
Sometimes belching occurs against the background of physical training, when the contents of the stomach quickly move inside its cavity, which provokes the removal of air to the outside,
Also, burping can occur due to the fact that a person wears too tight trousers or belts. This prevents the stomach from expanding normally. Therefore, the body independently gets rid of the air inside. Most often, this situation is observed in people who are prone to fullness. Normally, after a while after eating, burping ceases to bother.
As a rule, all the reasons described above lead to the fact that belching rarely occurs. However, sometimes she begins to literally pursue a person. The reasons for this violation can be very diverse, and understanding them is not always easy.
Women in position, especially in the 2nd and 3rd trimester of pregnancy, may suffer from belching. This does not indicate the development of any pathology. Everything is due to physiological reasons. During pregnancy, the uterus increases in size, begins to put pressure on the diaphragm and pushes the air in the stomach out.
Frequent causeless belching that occurs on an empty stomach is a cause for concern. If air comes out of the stomach that has an unpleasant smell, such as rotten eggs, or a sour or bitter taste appears in the mouth, then this becomes a serious cause for concern. Such an eructation most often indicates diseases of the digestive system.
However, do not panic ahead of time. A comprehensive examination is necessary, since belching, accompanied by the unpleasant symptoms described above, may indicate improper food intake. The term aerophagia is not familiar to everyone. It involves swallowing large amounts of air while eating. This can happen when a person eats very quickly, does not chew food, eats “on the go”. Talking while eating, frequent chewing gum, wearing the wrong size or structure of dentures, smoking, therapeutic inhalations, and too deep breathing can also cause large amounts of air to enter the stomach. All these reasons can lead to belching that is not associated with eating. Air will enter from the stomach simply because there is too much of it.
There are foods and drinks that can cause excess air to enter the stomach. First of all, this is true for soda. It contains carbon dioxide in dissolved form. After it enters the stomach, this gas accumulates there and tries to get out naturally.
Also, products-provocateurs of belching can be considered:
Fatty meals.
Garlic and onions.
Beans.
Strongly brewed coffee and tea.
To get rid of belching caused by the “wrong” foods, simply eliminate them from your diet.
You need to be concerned about your own health if belching occurs frequently and is accompanied by the following symptoms:
Feeling of heaviness in the stomach.
Nausea.
Heartburn.
Pain in the upper abdomen.
Such an eructation can be a signal of various diseases that affect the organs of the digestive system, for example:
Gastritis.
A peptic ulcer.
Inflammation of the pancreas.
Gastroduodenitis and duodenitis.
Inflammatory phenomena in the esophagus.
Hernia of the esophagus.
Weak sphincter between esophagus and stomach.
Traumatic damage to the mucous membrane of the digestive system.
Gastroesophageal reflux.
Cancers of the digestive system.
Belching of air after eating
With the normal functioning of the human gastrointestinal tract, belching of air after eating appears irregularly and rarely. This phenomenon may occur due to excessive swallowing of air in the process of eating food.
This happens if:
excessively quickly absorb food;
badly chew food;
eat on the go.
Belching after eating also appears:
when using gas-containing drinks, very hot or cold food;
because of the habit of talking while eating;
under stress.
As a result, the swallowed air forms a large air bubble, which puts pressure on the walls of the stomach. Our body, as a balanced mechanism, must take measures to reduce pressure. And it does this by opening the cardiac sphincter between the stomach and esophagus. Excess air from the stomach enters the esophagus, then into the oral cavity, then burping occurs.
Constant belching of air
Multiple belching of air may occur as a result of a systematic violation of the rules of eating, but in some cases, it can also be considered as a pathological symptom indicating the development of neurotic aerophagia.
Causes of the disease:
difficulty breathing through the nose;
diseases of the oral cavity and teeth;
frequent swallowing of saliva due to profuse salivation.
Frequent swallowing of air not during meals is characteristic of a pathological conditioned reflex (neurosis).
In addition, Aerophagia can develop with:
chronic gastritis;
disorder of tone and motility of the stomach;
pyloroduodenal stenosis;
peptic ulcer (especially in the case of a high location of the ulcer);
cardiovascular insufficiency;
cardiospasm;
narrowing of the esophagus;
aneurysms of the descending aorta.
The clinical picture is as follows:
There is a constant loud, sometimes “multi-story”, belching of air, and in people suffering from hysteria, it may be accompanied by a loud scream.
Belching happens after eating, and at any other time, and sometimes it is observed almost constantly and disappears during sleep.
Complaints about sensations of fullness and heaviness, which are localized more often in the epigastric region.
There is bloating, in severe cases, very significant, resembling a picture characteristic of intestinal obstruction.
People with coronary artery disease may experience pain in the region of the heart with angina attacks.
The occurrence of difficulty in breathing, up to attacks of suffocation, is less often noted.
Experts note that often a typical belching of air is observed in the patient directly upon examination, which disappears if his attention is diverted. The doctor can watch as the patient prepares to swallow air. He stretches his head forward, his chin is pressed to his chest, then he begins to make swallowing movements. With aerophagia, bloating in the upper half is noted. And the x-ray determines the high standing of the diaphragm, especially its left dome due to the enlarged air bladder of the stomach and the large accumulation of gases in the intestines.
Aerophagia can affect newborns and infants. In some cases, the child’s nervous system cannot cope with the regulation of the digestive apparatus. The disease can also develop due to sucking on a milky breast or an empty nipple, which increases the amount of air swallowed.
The main signs of aerophagia in children:
crying while eating;
rapid bloating;
refusal of food and, as a result, weight loss.
When changing position or on their own, the child may burp air, then calm down and start sucking again. The diagnosis can be confirmed by X-ray examination. Some children get used to swallowing air, a child can be weaned from this habit by strict regulation of food intake. Aerophagia in children is associated, for the most part, with general neuropathy or an imperfect apparatus of nervous regulation of the digestive organs, and with age it disappears.
Stomach pain and belching
Pain in the stomach with belching of air may indicate a disease, be its harbingers or the consequences of improper nutrition.
Similar problems may appear due to:
Smoking after meals. Most smokers reach for a cigarette at the end of a meal, but according to a recent study, one cigarette smoked after a meal is equal to ten. In the process of smoking, air and smoke are swallowed, which leads to belching with pain in the stomach.
Fruit consumption. Many people prefer to eat fruit for dessert – this is wrong. Fruits should be eaten before or after meals 1-2 hours before. Otherwise, organic acids contained in fruits interact with minerals that are present in other foods, and affect the process of digestion and assimilation of food.
Tea drinking. You should not drink tea after a meal, as the enzymes contained in tea leaves “weight” the proteins in food, preventing normal digestion.
Taking a bath. This procedure, pleasant and beneficial for the body and soul, should not be arranged after eating, since the increase in blood flow in the limbs accordingly reduces the blood flow in the stomach, weakening the digestive system and causing pain in the stomach and belching.
Belt loosening. The habit of unfastening the belt after eating negatively affects the functioning of the intestines and can provoke sharp pain with belching.
Cold drinks. Drinking cold liquids immediately after a meal interferes with normal stomach fermentation and lipid absorption.
Sleep after eating. Many “sin” with weakness to take a nap “after a delicious dinner”, when there is such an opportunity. But in a dream, proper digestion is simply impossible. As a result, you can get the above symptoms, which can be harbingers of gastroenterocolitis.
Note that the range of diseases, which are characterized by the appearance of pain in the abdomen and empty belching, is quite wide. Therefore, do not delay the solution of this problem and seek advice from a gastroenterologist.
How to get rid of belching air?
First of all, with such an ailment, a person thinks about the state of his health, but the aesthetic side of the problem also plays an important role. Therefore, when a person begins to regularly involuntarily burp, he is forced to look for ways that will save him from repeating such embarrassment.
Treatment methods for belching depend on the causes of its occurrence.
If we are talking about symptomatic aerophagia, then the main attention is paid to the disease that provoked its development.
With aerophagia, which is neurotic in nature, psychotherapy plays a major role:
You need to understand the essence of the disease and do everything possible to mobilize all your will to suppress the conditioned reflex. This is not an easy task, since swallowing air usually occurs involuntarily and imperceptibly for a person, and close people can help him here. The fact is that a person automatically causes a burp, swallowing air and believing that it will help get rid of the uncomfortable feeling of bloating. It is on this attempt that his attention should be focused. The disappearance of belching will disrupt the entire pathological conditioned reflex and lead to its complete attenuation.
With increased salivation, it is recommended not to swallow, but to spit saliva.
Food must be taken slowly, excluding conversations.
It is necessary to follow a diet that excludes foods that linger in the stomach for a long time.
It is better to eat often, but in small portions.
In severe cases, it may be necessary to separate the intake of liquid and solid food.
Suitable for physical education and breathing exercises.
It is necessary to calm and strengthen the nervous system.
If the cause of burping with air lies in malnutrition, then you will have to radically change this approach and begin to follow the following simple rules:
Try to stop talking while eating. The habit of talking and eating at the same time is inevitably accompanied by the swallowing of excess air and, as a result, leads to belching of air.
Chewing food thoroughly with your mouth closed is known to improve digestion as well as reduce gas formation in the stomach.
If you smoke, try not to swallow air and smoke.
Reduce intake of foods that cause belching:
beverages containing carbonic acid and beer;
port.
milk, as well as ice cream;
Do not drink drinks through a straw, along with the liquid, air enters the stomach. Do not eat when in a state of nervous excitement. Try to distract yourself, calm down, maybe take a little walk before eating.
Do not abuse chewing gum. The normal rhythm of the stomach can go astray due to excessive chewing movements. Try to eat more foods rich in trace elements and vitamins.
Avoid excessive exercise after meals. The human body needs rest for 2-3 hours for normal digestion of food. Heavy physical labor and sports loads after eating lead to a violation of the natural peristalsis of the digestive tract, which provokes belching.
Refuse whipped “airy” drinks, for example, from a milkshake, it contains air bubbles, which also go to the stomach. Sometimes the cause of belching is hidden in some product, it must be identified and excluded from the diet.
After eating, many people like to lie down, this should not be done, it is better to take a little walk. Don’t overeat. Remember that the human body is able to digest any amount of food (of course, within reasonable limits) on average until the age of forty. After that, the enzymatic functions of the body gradually decrease, and excessive gluttony can lead to various problems, from excess weight to the appearance of involuntary burping. Do not drink hot drinks, as air is drawn in along with the hot liquid.