Okay, so this might be unique to my band placement/anatomy, but just in case it can help someone else....

I found burping very painful immediately post-op, but discovered that if I leaned forward (with a pillow against my tummy in the very first few days), the trapped gas would just gently "rumble" to the surface without any of the painful stomach spasms/hicc-ups

For what it's worth, I am today 7 days post-op, relatively gas and pain free, feeling pretty good and down 7 pounds since banding, so it DOES get better

Whenever I feel the need to burp, or cough (which I am still afraid to do), I have to put a lot of pressure on my stomach with a pillow to avoid any more pain... usually what feels like a burp will come out as a rumble, like you described. I'm only 3 days post-op so everything is still pretty sore, but you're definitely not the only one experiencing this kind of gas!

Sounds normal to me!

Sounds normal to me!

hey, I used your tip and it does help a lot!! very simple but effective.

hope your healing is going well