I'm a 29 year old male and I've had this problem all my life. I've read these other threads about people who can't burp but, I've never read anything regarding this other problem I have to go along with this.
It isn't a certain type of food or drink that triggers it and it seems to happen randomly. Sometimes when I eat or drink, it happens but I can eat or drink that same thing another day and not have this problem. When this happens, I get the usual gurgling from my chest area BUT, I notice my saliva also seems to get really thick and if I don't continue to spit this out, it seems to make it worse by swalloing it. I have a physically demanding job and when this happens while I'm working, that's when it's at it's worst. I feel like I have pressure on my chest and it get's hard to breath. Laying down helps as it puts me in a relaxed state.
I think if I have the ability to burp, this will solve everything but, it seems there is no one solution to all this. I will be seeing an ENT sometime within the next few weeks but, I wanted to see if anyone else had this problem.