Returning to this thread after a long hiatus is interesting because I had an attack of allergies this week that seemed to start as TMS and then turned to upper respiratory allergies. But why I know my attack was TMS-related was because the first symptoms I experienced (even before the post nasal drip) was pain in my interior neck muscles, the very same muscles that would sometimes get tight and painful with a TMS attack. However, when the pain went away in my neck, it was then that the membranes in my throat started to get irritated and sore from post nasal drip. IOWs: TMS muscle tension and allergic sinusitis were occurring in the same general anatomical areas of my throat. In fact, they were what you might call equivalent symptoms. TMS started to flare up and then was followed with allergies. I also had a succession of stressful events all in a row leading up to the outbreak of the TMS followed immediately thereafter by allergies. Bingo! There has to be a connection. I also realize that the soreness in the back of my throat that progressed from tension in my neck muscles to post nasal drip started when I had my teeth cleaned last week. Was the cleaning a physical "trigger" that initiated the progression from sore neck muscles to allergic rhinitis? Seems to me that the whole sequence of events was inter-related. I always wondered too whether cleaning the plaque off your teeth also released bacteria into your mouth that would serve to irritate your nose, ears, mouth and gums? Way too complicated to set up a scientifically verifiable double blind-experiment I fear! It is very interesting, though, how allergies can serve the same purpose as TMS symptoms as a way of distracting you from facing underlying unpleasant emotions like anger (read 'rage').
