Are you negatively affected by fluorescent light?

[sparrow]

My dh, to a small degree, and son, to a much larger degree seem negatively impacted by fluorescent lighting. My dh just gets kind of spacey. He has a hard time making decisions and can't wait to get out of a big box store. Ds will actually get physical symptoms of hives, along with eye rubbing and tearing. I think the hives are just related to the light making him very tired. It is nearly impossible to grocery shop with him. He has never attended school, but I can only imagine what the lighting in a classroom would do to him!

 

Do any of you, or your family members, experience this? I'm beginning to think I need to stockpile incandescent bulbs!

 

Dh just returned from the store with ds and said ds was "a wreck". It made me wonder if others had experience with this!

[RegularMom]

My dh is negatively impacted by flourescent lighting. If we spend too much time in a large department store or mall, he gets agitated. But he doesn't seem to have trouble at work, where I'm sure there's flourescent lighting, so it's puzzling.

 

All I know is, he requested that I not use those super-energy saving lightbulbs. I use them only in rooms he never spends much time in. Like the laundry room. :)

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Our big cub scout pack meetings used to be in a community center that had big overhead lighting that pulsed. I would get splitting headaches. It took me months to figure out what was bothering me.

My MIL made me a visor that she decorated with cub scout emblems to wear so that I wasn't constantly having the flicker on the edge of my vision. It did help.

 

One of the aspects to moving to flourescent that I'm not looking forward to is the way that it fades books and other paper products. Archives and high end library storage areas have to put filters onto their lighting, but that is pretty expensive. We have almost 5000 books, many of them older and not easily replaced. I'd rather not fade them unnecessarily with our lighting options.

[DesertDweller]

I thought I was the only one!

 

I used to work in an office and the lighting was annoying! Yes, irritating. I've always told my dh I would never work in an office again for this reason. It's such a strange feeling. I can see how some of the big box stores might evoke the same feeling. I haven't really experienced it in that particular situation. I think it's because the ceilings are so high. In a smaller room where the lighting is just overhead though, I notice it the most.

[Calm37]

I get migraines from flourescent lights, specifically the long 3+ft long type of bulbs. Another thing that you may not notice is that they emit a buzzing sound. It is louder when they are first on, but still, they are not silent. If you go into a quiet room and turn one on you'll hear it, especially the long ones. And if they are flickering, as many do in stores because they don't change them quickly enough. I can get immediately dizzy and nauseous.

 

I'm sorry your son is having such a severe reaction! Does bright sunlight bother him, too? If so, it may be a type of migraine.

[Ellyndria]

Yes, it makes my eyes red. I hate walking around stores and looking in a mirror and seeing my eyes all pink. I suppose it can make me tired too.

[Penelope]

Yes, the sound and the flickering bug me. I have wondered about it with one of my kids.

 

But there are other things in very large stores that could be causing the problem. Overstimulation from the hugeness of it all and the number of items there, the high ceilings with the sound echo and loud background noise. The fact your ds has hives sounds more like a physical allergy. Could there be chemical fumes from the products or the cleaning supplies used (I don't have a lot of allergies but I used to react from a certain floor cleaner that was used in buildings where I worked). Or maybe there are a large amount of other allergens floating around in that particular store.

[Dawn in OH]

to a much larger degree seem negatively impacted by fluorescent lighting. My dh just gets kind of spacey. He has a hard time making decisions and can't wait to get out of a big box store.

 

I get spacey, unable to make decisions, irritable and sick to my stomach. It's to the point that I hate going to the store because of the physical ailments that accompany it. Not to mention the frequent disagreements that I end up having with other family members if the outing becomes too long for me.

[Denise in Florida]

This sounds like me. I can not stand to go inside Sports Authority, I get sick immediately. I try to avoid Wal-Mart, I usually have about 10-15 minutes before I have to leave, this is worse during Christmas season. The local mall is just say no :lol:. But I can handle one particular Target just fine, I think the smell of the Starbucks helps somehow. Barnes and Noble is my happy place, the smell of books and coffee override any 'light' based irritation.

 

I hadn't realized how precise a mental list I had for shopping until I decided to answer this post.

[2cents]

It bothers me and one of my daughters. I can see a wiggle and it makes me headachy and eventually my stomach gets upset. When I worked, I bought a bulb lamp for my office and shut off the fluorescent lights because it was so bad.

[EKS]

My husband has (medication controlled) epilepsy. He sometimes will have "almost seizures" in places with lots of fluorescent lighting, like Target. His neurologist said that this was relatively common among her seizure patients.

[Tutor]

I get migraines from flourescent lights, specifically the long 3+ft long type of bulbs. Another thing that you may not notice is that they emit a buzzing sound. It is louder when they are first on, but still, they are not silent. If you go into a quiet room and turn one on you'll hear it, especially the long ones. And if they are flickering, as many do in stores because they don't change them quickly enough. I can get immediately dizzy and nauseous.

 

My sister has this reaction to the longer fluorescents also. The light gives her migraines and the buzzing spurs anxiety attacks. When she was in ps, these reactions were listed as learning disorders and she was put into special ed. Special ed consisted of putting her in a room by herself (a teacher was supervising, but there were no other students) with her school work. Of course, the room had fluorescent lights. :glare:

[sparrow]

Thanks for all the responses! Sounds like we're definitely not alone on this.

 

 

But there are other things in very large stores that could be causing the problem. Overstimulation from the hugeness of it all and the number of items there, the high ceilings with the sound echo and loud background noise. The fact your ds has hives sounds more like a physical allergy. Could there be chemical fumes from the products or the cleaning supplies used (I don't have a lot of allergies but I used to react from a certain floor cleaner that was used in buildings where I worked). Or maybe there are a large amount of other allergens floating around in that particular store.

 

There could be a sensory issue going on here. We definitely haven't ruled that out. He has a doctor appointment for some other focus/concentration issues we're seeing.

 

Ds has gotten hives when he was tired since he was a toddler. It used to be *every* night. Our doctor thought he would grow out it, and he has, unless he is over tired. The hives he gets when tired are huge, swollen welts across his neck, back, and chest. Weird, I know :tongue_smilie:.