I remember my mother suffering wiht this when I was a child. Unfortunately, it was one of the things she passeed on to me. I am having a horrendous bout of this right now. It always starts in my back and every time, even after 20 years of this happening to me, I wonder, "How did I strain my back?" When it first starts, it feels more like intense back pain from misuse and does not feel like 'gas' at all...then it starts to creep around to my chest and then I start to burp.   This morning I awoke and the pain was more excruitiating than I had ever experienced before. I started to become afraid. I told myself to just relax...take a deep breath. That's when I really got scared because taking that deep breath hurt more than I can say. I then started to feel like I was going to pass out and throw up. I was home alone, so I stood to get the phone just in case I needed to call 911..that's how bad it was. I sat and tried to compose myself and after about 15 minutes, the feeling of fainting slowly disappeared, but I had broken out in a sweat. I just sat for a while and eventually started to feel like I no longer needed to have the phone handy. It was pretty scary.   The ONLLY good thing that came of this, is that after all these years of having this issue (which doctors have NO clue as to how to treat it) is that I think I have found what triggers this in me and it is overeating tomatoes. Both this time and the last time this happened to me, I was on a tomato kick (I love grape tomatoes)...I think I am OK if I eat them on occasion, but eating them constantly seems to be what triggers this intense upper gas in me. I am hoping this may enlighten some of you.   It makes me sad that 'good for you' foods are the ones that cause stomach issues. I have never gotten sick binging on junk food...only certain fruits and veggies. My favorite things..onions, garlic and tomatoes, which are such a big part of my diet, all cause me horrendous pain. It kinda sucks....