Does anyone else find that they feel faint in supermarkets? Especially ASDA

[Buttybach]

I have always found this. Especially Asda and I have no idea why!!
I do have Adhd and I'm on medication for it. But I still experience this extreme feeling of almost passing out every time I go there.
It's very odd!

B&Q always made me feel woozy. I put it down to the lack of windows, and the shelving being so high. The worst feeling I’ve ever got from a building though, was the football museum in Manchester- I thought I was going to pass out on the stairs.

It's the lights. I've had a migraine and felt very sick all of a sudden several times in Morrisons. It once triggered my husband's epilepsy! I try to shop online these days. No idea why that particular Morrisons was like that!

It’s the lighting I think

My son is mildly autistic and although he really isn’t obviously autistic, he is so badly behaved in M&S every time. No other supermarkets.

It’s so bad that I won’t go there with him. Generally he’s a very well behaved child so it’s really obvious.

I've found my tribe!!! I thought I was weird, turns out I'm one of many.

I had this in one m&s food store. Couldn't work it out at all. So glad I'm not alone. I don't have migraines or epilepsy so it was a mystery.

My son used to go nuts in supermarkets when he was little. I'm convinced that it's the fluorescent lighting as he never did that elsewhere.

Yep. It's awful. Morrisons quiet hour is what you need.

my.morrisons.com/blog/community/quieter-hour/

I remember when ds was a baby he used to scream bloody blue murder in a particular store.

I was waiting in a queue in that store one day (ds screaming) and the woman in front started chatting to me. She said that she was in the process of writing a report after doing a study on lighting in public places, and said that there were some types of light that did cause people to have visual problems and feel sick. I can’t remember the details - if it was the colour or wavelength - but it seemed to make sense when she was telling me.

Oddly there is a couple of stores where in one particular place I feel like I am going over a speed bump when I walk by.

Yes I feel generally unwell in all supermarkets and shopping centres

Not just in supermarkets for me, many places without windows would mean I had to find somewhere to sit down, often on the floor until it passed.

I often feel dizzy in a queue and have to hope there is a chair at the end of checkout as I have often had to leave my companion to go through checkout while I sit and wait.

Sometimes a drink helps, if I can find one without sweeteners.

The sunglasses thing is probably true. I haven't had any problem recently and was thinking maybe they'd changed the lighting. Then I remembered I've been wearing Reactolite glasses for the past year or so.

Yep. Another vote here for Morrisons quiet hour. It's lovely

I used to feel faint in certain shops in our shopping centre. I finally worked out the escalator was making the floor vibrate slightly which made my balance feel odd!

I get a funny spaced out feeling sometimes. Think it's the lighting.

Yes, I have vertigo and supermarkets are a huge trigger. Sensory overload

I don’t get this but makes sense why people do- it will be caused by lots of sensory input, mainly visual - lights, full colourful shelves, people moving, patterned floors all stimulating the vestibular system (inner ear). Too much input all at once will be interpreted by the brain as dizziness and nausea. Just like motion sickness.

OMG yes! I thought this was just me!

B&M is the worst for me by far. The dazzling overhead strip lighting is awful... but also suffer in department stores if they have the same lighting and its all cramped.

I always feel unwell in Tesco. I have to quickly get the shopping done and get out of there. My heart pounds and I just feel panicky. I'm fine in the other supermarkets. I think it might be the lighting as I don't feel that I can see properly in there either.

I was far worse when pregnant. First pregnancy I went faint under the low suspended ceiling with warm spotlights in TK Maxx and ended up in a panic stripping clothes and gasping for breath.

I had umpteen faintness episodes when queuing in a supermarket cafe. I did learn that it was better to drink my coke before paying after the incident where the faintness and nausea ended up in me decorating the floor

Sports Direct is hideous. There's a little pokey toyshop in town that's too tight and claustrophobic to go in to. I hate ASDA with its towering sock piled up. Tesco is too garish in its larger stores.

I hated Wallis as a child. It was painted a dull blue and I found that very oppressive. The shop got narrower at the back.

The other atmosphere I struggle with is the humidity, noise and claustrophobia of swimming changing. I can't even face wearing a visor in that environment and had to stop trying to wear a mask in shops after that resulted in overwhelm and bouts of hyperventilating.

DS1 has ASD, dyspraxia and sensory issues. I suspect I have dyspraxia and that can be accompanied by sensory issues.

Me too.

Sometimes I'm ok & sometimes I just HAVE to get out.

I've recently found out I have astigmatism so not sure if it's related to that or hormones or a mixture?!

Happens in other places too

Toys R Us used to make me incredibly tired and short tempered. The moment I used to walk in I was non-stop yawning, literally could have laid out on the floor and gone to sleep! Could never go in places like Curry's or Comet either as they made me feel sick. I'm really funny with lifts as well, some of them make me feel really ill! My children go really hyperactive in b&q!

It’s the heating in there it used to make me awful.

@CorvusPurpureus

Only when pregnant.

I remember coming over all peculiar in Asda & about three staff members grabbed a chair, grabbed me, parked the chair under my bum & handed me a bottle of water. Like a well oiled machine, they were!

Apparently pregnant women were keeling over in there almost daily. They blamed the strip lighting.

I ended up on the floor in the freezer aisle being put into the recovery position by a member of staff in our local Asda. Apparently it’s part of the reason they have little fridges for drinks at the checkouts in ours.

Asda knew I was pregnant before my parents

Marks and Spencer - I used to get migraines almost as soon as I stepped inside the door.

Omg! This thread has been a revelation, I've got adhd and fell faint / do faint in big shops.

Sainsbury's, primark, Debenhams, hsbc, but never Aldi