Recently I have been in my local shopping mall - it’s not that big but was pretty ground breaking when it opened 40 years ago!
Anyway, for some reason I find it much harder to walk in there (manage OK normally) - it’s as if my legs don’t want to move.
I thought it might be something to do with the flooring there, but I was discussing it with my osteopath, who thought it could be a sort of MS sensory issue - all the artificial lights, artificial air (conditioning) - I often find it too hot in there but then I have heat control problems - and lots of people. It kind of makes sense but I wondered - has anyone else experienced this?
Don’t really like shopping anyway unless it’s a supermarket!
Hi I get a feeling of unease sometimes in a shopping mall but I think mine is to do with the lighting, anxiety and slight claustrophobia. The walk to the toilet in the mall is down a long corridor and when the mall is busy I find this particularly bad.
Every M&S I go into make me spaced out, wobbly, clumsy, disorientated, etc etc. I’ve worked out it that it’s the lights and the way they lay the shop out. There is never a clear path from one bit to another, they make you go around as many shelves and displays to get anywhere and I don’t think my brain can work fast enough to work out which way is the best way to go.
This sounds to me like a classic case of MS-related Sensory Overload. I get it myself in shopping malls, supermarkets, large stores etc.
Take into consideration how much your information your brain has to process in such places. For example, the lights, the number of different colours your eyes have to take on board, negotiating your way between (often) tall aisles, and also the many different noises- people, tills, PA system and we’re starting to hear piped Christmas muzak already in some stores.
I myself find myself freezing like a statue unable to move at all, especially if I have throngs of people coming towards me.
There are a number of videos on the web demonstrating this, often in the context of Autism, but the effect is the same. I’m hesitant to post the links here because they can be scary and bring on these feelings, but if you want to google it you’ll find loads out there.
I to get this I begin to feel really hot and begin to panic So I now use my mobility scooter in big shops and malls and feel fine as I feel in control.
I’ve had this feeling in busy places since diagnosis.
I was told it’s because our brains have trouble coping with all the messages, ie messages of people walking by and music playing and conversations between many people. Our brains can’t cope with all of this.
I even get this if I’m a passenger in a car on the motorway because of all the cars using the motorway and looking out of the window when the car is zooming by.
Our damaged little brains can’t process all these messages.
Thanks all! It certainly feels like a sensory overload problem but was a bit odd because I only had it for the first time recently in that shopping centre. When I was there a few weeks before I was OK.
However I often thought during my visits there in summer that they really need to sort out their air-conditioning properly. I think a lot of places don’t use the aircon properly in order to save money. The M & S there is a particular offender in my view, especially the upper level (where the Refunds Section is unfortunately).
Something to be said for shopping online, I guess.