I don’t have an answer, but I can tell you the exact same thing happened to me about 4 years ago. The pain was so terrible that I had nightmares about it for months. Tonight I’m having the helium burps totally out of the blue and I’m terrified that it’s happening again.
Please research BILE REFLUX. You may have similar symptoms.
I just started having helium burps and was researching what it was when I came up on this thread. So far I've burped 5x and the only thing I've had that has caused this was juicing. I juiced 5 celery sticks, 2 apples, 1 pear, 1/2 a lemon and a thumb of ginger along with a cup of power greens that should have expired, but we had wrapped them in a paper towel in their container, prolonging their life. Any of the leaves that weren't wrapped had become foul, slimy and definitely bad. I picked those out and juiced the rest of the leaves like normal. I'm wondering if the "helium" gases are coming from some bad greens. I was very bloated before and was surprised the juice started releasing gases so fast. Did anyone eat something similar before the onset of helium burps? Not looking forward to any accompanying pain that might be headed my way.
This happens to me all the time, except for I call them "rotten egg burps"
Look into gastroparesis also called delayed stomach emptying, that's what I have and that's what causes the burps and the other gastrointestinal symptoms.
Gastroparesis is often caused by damage, usually of unknown origin, to the vagus nerve, which is the longest nerve in the body and is the nerve responsible for sending the signal to the stomach to break down and empty food into the small intestine to continue digestion. However, when the vagus nerve has sustained damage, sometimes it doesn't send the signal to the stomach, which means no food is being emptied out properly, and all the while, you're still eating regularly not yet aware the food in your stomach isn't emptying until you have a "Gastroparesis attack"
An attack is almost always accompanied by foul smelling burps and intense pain usually in the upper and middle abdomen, this is simply your body realizing the food sitting in your stomach is starting to rot (hence the awful burps) and it needs to get rid of it, and since making the regular exit has been hindered, your body sends the signal to a different nerve that you need to vomit, hence the nausea and aforementioned vomiting.
I was told I had IBS my whole life until when I was 20 I met a gastroenterologist who really knew his stuff and he scheduled a test where a tube with a camera would be inserted into my esophagus (while I was under anesthesia obviously) to get a visual on my stomach to see if what was causing me these episodes originated there, that's when he discovered the food in my stomach looked like i had just eaten it even though I cut off all solid foods at midnight the night before for the test, which is how we finally found out what was making me sick all this time.
While there is no cure for gastroparesis making dietary changes and eating foods that are more easily digestible does help a great deal.
I posted a reply on this thread a year ago, then last weekend it happened again. I went to my primary care doctor a few days later and he said he's almost positive this is a transient small intestine blockage. He suspects a loop of small bowel gets twisted, and that's what is causing my symptoms - and that I'm lucky my body has been able to correct it so far but I'm tempting fate by not having it addressed. He's set me up with a GI referral and strict instructions to go to the ER as soon as I have an onset of these symptoms, which I will absolutely be doing.
Six years later and I’m still having these attacks. I had one in the end of January and went to the ER for a CT. Symptoms started at 6pm but they didn’t do the CT until 1am. CT was clear, but was that because it took so long? Currently sitting at the lab waiting to run a slew of tests ordered by my GI - celiacs, h.pylori, allergies… I feel like she’s grasping at straws. I had a very mild attack last night - this is the first time that the attacks have come so close together (about 2 months). I started taking Ozempic and I’m concerned that it is triggering more episodes, but I’m having such good results from it that I don’t want to stop taking it. Wish I had some answers. This is the only place I have found anyone who experiences these horrible attacks. If anyone else has found some answers, please share!
I had your exact symptoms when I got giardia and it will come and go like your describing if untreated.