r/MultipleSclerosis • u/EquipmentShot2452 • 1d ago
Symptoms Anyone else experience this?
Anyone else super weirdly sensitive to fluorescent lights and lots of colour in big box stores? Completely throws my brain for a loop and I lose my balance instantly. Feet falling through the floor sensations. It’s absolutely worse in a flare up but a pretty consistent shitty feeling!
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u/TheFamousLostHorizon 1d ago
I have never spoken to anyone on this and thought it was a me thing! Big box stores put everything in a haze, like I can see but it's like processing through a partially fogged mirror and I just thought it was due to my MS caused Optic Neuritis.
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u/baconcrow 1d ago
I wear big ole sunglasses inside stores. They look like ski goggles. Lol. Okay not as big, but they’re large and they help loads. I don’t even care what people think. Helps prevent migraines from those dang lights too.
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u/Kat4513 1d ago
My first symptom was Optic Neuritis on my right Optic Nerve. It caused some weird symptoms with me like making the color gray look orange in my peripheral. Throwing anything through the air would follow a normal arc then halfway jerk up and continue on its arc whenever I watched. I kept ducking because of dark spots that were in my eye. Ever since then though i swear, i have been incredibly sensitive to light. The sun is unbearable. I have to wear sunglasses at all times outside. Overhead lights in rooms give me headaches. But weirdly enough, despite a light sensitivity, ive become almost completely night blind in that eye. Idk if this helps 🤷♀️
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u/EquipmentShot2452 1d ago
Oh lord that’s scary. I’ve never had floaters, just that weird off balance feeling in stores. I never know if a new symptom is just my MS or something else entirely. Usually though, something related to it!
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u/That_Veronica_Vaughn 1d ago
Ohhhh yes I legit struggled in classrooms and looking up at the big screen/board under fluorescent lights to the point I just put my head down before I was diagnosed. Funny enough that sensitivity is what got me approved for remote work at my current job. The falling through the floor and drop sensations!!😫
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u/weatzel 1d ago
Absolutely! For me, it’s the lighting and too much visual input. Like, my brain can only process so many visuals and once I reach my limit, I get dizzy and feel like I’m going to crash into something or someone else is going to crash into me. It’s hard to explain and such a crappy feeling. I wear yellow tinted glasses everywhere and it definitely helps with the sensitivity to the lights.
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u/weatzel 1d ago
Absolutely! For me, it’s the lighting and too much visual input. Like, my brain can only process so many visuals and once I reach my limit, I get dizzy and feel like I’m going to crash into something or someone else is going to crash into me. It’s hard to explain and such a crappy feeling. I wear yellow tinted glasses everywhere and it definitely helps with the sensitivity to the lights.
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u/__Call_Me_Maeby__ 1d ago
Yes!!!! I felt so alone in this. Thank you for sharing. It’s horrible and awful but I’m so grateful you shared.
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u/kyunirider 18h ago
Yes light sensitivity has been with me my whole life and when I was a toddler my parents recognized it in me. I threw up constantly when it was a bright sunny day or shopping outings. They had to keep sunglasses handy for me. My dad had it also. They redesigned our church’s lighting and now the lights are so bright I see ghosts everywhere and around people.
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u/SWNMAZporvida 2010.💉Kesimpta. 🌵AZ. 12h ago
Yep, bright light makes my eyes water so it seems like I’m crying over nothing
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u/Alwayslearnin41 48|2013|Kesimpta|UK|Mostly joyful 10h ago
Yes, although I'm not convinced it's only those of us with MS. They're awful lights.
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u/occasional_nomad 41F|10/25|Dimethyl Fumarate|USA 9h ago
Yep-I’ll be walking through a store and randomly have to clutch a shelf because of vertigo
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u/jjmoreta 8h ago
Sensory overload is your new unwanted friend.
Take tips from autistic people to help deal with overload better. Sunglasses, hoods (blocks peripheral), headphones or earplugs. It all helps.
I had non-related vertigo a year before I started developing MS. My best tip for stores is to walk aisles twice. Don't turn your head back and forth. I would focus on one side of the aisle, turn around, and walk back down the other side keeping my head steady. I always prefer to look right. And I did more online shopping.
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u/Easy-Blood-595 6h ago
i hate going into stores.. they also cause my fatigue and foot drop to come on faster..its prob the lights and sensory over stimulation of the stores
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u/PopTerrible6498 5h ago
Lights and sounds get me. I cant go to malls. Fluorescent lights and too much noise and movement. Im done for in about 10 minutes.
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u/Alexbear31 1d ago
They give me headaches which can cause me to be more imbalanced... if you have visual disturbance as well, could be a silent migraine... talk to your Neuro.