Shops - lights, odours, boom boom music (HELP!! !)

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I absolutely hate shopping. Not in principle, but the bright, noisy, smelly reality of it all. Do any of you have this issue or ideas how to cope ? (other than getting someone else to do it)

Most shops in in my local area have those flickering, buzzing fluorescent lights which make my head spin. When I go into shops with this sort of lighting the only way I can cope is to decide exactly what I want before hand and get the whole thing over in 15 minutes or so. Any more than this and I feel too dizzy and nauseous.

Added to that loud boomy music, that some shops play and overly perfumed old ladies - the whole experience is so horrible, that a lot of the time I just cannot think and have to leave without having bought anything.

Fortunately I can avoid grocery shopping as I do this over the internet. But clothes are a bit more tricky as the sizes seem to vary greatly depending on the brand and also you can't tell if the fabric will be uncomfortable or not just by looking at a picture.

I've heard about Irlen lenses for reading problems, do they help with fluorescent lights too?
Any ideas about desensitizing myself against these things?
Or is it just a case of avoidance?

Thanks

Tinted lenses are a godsend. Irlen, or just find a pair that suit your color needs by trying them on. I had Irlen lenses first, but later found I was able to almost match the tint much more cheaply using swatches at the optician.

I cannot emphasise enough how much dark glasses can help if you suffer from sensory overload from external stimuli. Cut down one imput (light) and everything else (noise, smell, crowds etc) becomes so much more managable. It really was the ticket in ending 4 years where I literally could not leave the house due to sensory overload and panic attacks.

I'm not a big fan of shopping either.

Those things bother me also.

I just posted a question on the same topic. Shopping is the bane of my exhistence. I hate it with a passion. I avoid shopping for everything but groceries pretty well but there is no way to buy food locally without traipsing to the store.
My technic for dealing with it is the "scoop and run'. no matter what i'm there for i beeline for what i need and grab it as quick as possible even if that means scooping up other things i dont want (wrong sizes brands varieties etc.). Not a great method, I know, but it does minimize the torture...

Lydia

I don't get the same level of discomfort from lights as many do, but I've done shopping and many other things with ear plugs and I usually carry something strongly scented that I like the smell of, everywhere I go.
I grow several types of mint for this purpose. If you hate mint then find someting you like and keep some with you when you go to unknown places. It helps me a lot.

Ear plugs can be simple foam ones for less than a buck to really hi-tech ones that only diminish certain frequency ranges and leave your ears open to vocal freqs, but I find that plugging my ears completely helps more. You might try a cheap mp3 player, also. Something pleasant to compete with and distract you from the unknown noises from everywhere. Even that takes some getting used to, though

I am also more fatigued after fighting a crowd, also. I usually try to go either very early or on Sunday morning to avoid the big crowds. That makes no sense to people who know me, because I used to work concert sound and those ridiculous crowds didn't bother me, much. The difference is, I was focused on the gear and not the people and I had some degree of control to keep people away from me and my stuff. But shopping is a nightmare because they all like to "rub elbows" as the saying goes. Who knew that one was meant literally?

When I go shopping, sometimes I get this sensory overload; especially in malls and big stores like Walmart. My mind sort of gets jumbled up and I just want to sit down and relax. I don't like shopping for new clothes either, since I don't like lots of the girly clothes that are in style, and I like my own style. I like carpenter pants, but some years they don't have any of them. I like the baggy feel on them because I don't like "hugging" pants (or shirts) quite as much. Anyways, I don't like shopping, but I still have to do it anyways; life is life is life...

My biggest gripe with shopping is not quite as much the light, but the noise. The acoustics of most shopping centers, and big-box stores is very reverberant. They have open ceilings, concrete floors, and other hard surfaces that bounce sound around into a roar of chaos. The sound of a screaming child a long distance away in one of these places ends up not just being heard, but being amplified by they time it makes it to my ears. Add to this the noise of P.A. systems cranking out awful music and squawking announcements and it all becomes just too much to take. For some reason too, most of these places enjoy cluttering up the aisles with display cases and boxes that makes walking through basically impossible when the places are crowded. The long lines and bad customer service in these places wouldn't be particularly bad, but when you add the noise factor, it makes the situation totally unbearable!

It used to not be like this. I remember department stores having acoustic ceiling tile, and carpeting. It tamed the racket quite well, but I guess it isn't in style anymore. Customer service obviously isn't either! I rememer deparment stores when I was young being almost as quiet as libraries.

I am a little bit the opposite of Aspiegirl in the fact that I don't like loose, sloppy clothing falling off of me and rubbing against my skin all the time. Unfortunatley, that is the way most men's clothing is made these days, and there is no choice. Even when I find the rare pair of pants that are small enough to fit me, they are nothing but a pair of a larger guy's pants with the waist cinched up a little...the thighs are still way to baggy and sloppy for me. While girls can cross the aisle to shop in the men's section, it's usually not looked upon very well for guys to do it. I still do it though because I don't care, I find girl's size 5 jeans fit me quite well...not too tight, and not too loose. I typically pick the more boyish styles and most people cannot even tell the diff.

For most of my shopping though, I end up at the thrift stores. They are small, much quieter, much cheaper, and I find what I want without too much effort!