Panic/confusion in grocery stores? - Fibromyalgia Message Board

pookah · 02-07-2004, 11:59 PM

I have gotten panicked, confused, disoriented, lost, in large grocery stores for as long as I can remember. Something about the bright lights and all the displays mixes me up, and if there's a lot of people around- forget it! I usually have a panic attack before I get to the checkout line.

Does anyone else do this? I have been looking for a cause, and now that I know I have fibro, I thought maybe this is part of it.

la_brat · 02-08-2004, 12:25 PM

Our youngest daughter avoids got into certain stores if she can. She has trouble with stores that have merchandise piled high. She feels as if they are falling or going to fall on her. She finds those stores very distressing and fatiguing. She doesn't last very long in them.

MistyMisty · 02-08-2004, 02:04 PM

Hello, I have found that when I am grocery shopping I start aching more and I used to get so "confused" and shaky by the time I was in the check-out line that I was hardly oriented enough to write the check. Plus it was so exhausting. One thing I have noticed is that the floresence (sp?) lights make me feel hyper and some smells (such as in the laundry soap and fabric softener isles) cause problems, as some of us are chemical and smell sensative.

If I plan on getting a big supply of groceries I take a list and get through it as fast as I can. I also like to take my husband with me to help with heavy items. He has been so helpful. If I go alone I get only necessary items.

I have found that taking a mild tranquilizer (1/2 of prescribed med) keeps me so much calmer and also eases driving problems, but then I live in a small town, not a lot of traffic here.

Noises and bright lights can bring on a flare and shopping leaves me frazzeled. Since we perceive noise as pain this is understandable. (Research is available to this fact, but I can't state where here.)

My pain is much more intense in areas where there is excessive noise and where there is florescent or very bright lights. (Some of the f-lights give off a very strange buzzing sound, hardly detecatable above other noises.) Therefore I experience more fibro-brain-fog,and the confused feeling as well as exhaustion. I would think this is a normal reaction for us with this syndrome. MistyMisty

Bine · 02-08-2004, 02:14 PM

hmmmm, I get lightheaded/dizzy/sweaty when there are too many people around, especially grocers and churches.
Confused I do not get, as long as I do not stare at blinkg lights or stripes.
But I noticed I really have a hard time when I arrive late at a party figuring out faces I know-they all seem to become a big blob, but that clears up after half an hour or so.
Sabine