A Trip to CVS Pharmacy experienced as Severe Panic Attack:

[Sugar Smack]

I've had these before, panic attacks. In my twenties they were pretty fierce. Thankfully, they are treatable. I haven't had one in a while so I'm going to describe a store I went into yesterday that embodies all the traits- CVS:


You are about to get antibiotics for something or other. Everything is pleasant outside. The air is moving with a mild breeze that sweeps the occasional exhaust fumes away. The sun shines and warms your face, and you know who you are, what you're going to make for dinner, who you're going to call this evening.

You step inside and are struck that the air inside is like a vacuum. It's breathable, but it's so still that it doesn't feel like air.

You can almost smell the freon from the air conditioners, but the most overwhelming of all this is the fluorescent lights. Whoever built this BOX you're standing in packed the ceilings with industrial fluorescent lights.You wonder what would have been the harm in using only half the lights. One in the back is blinking erratically, giving the place a special feeling of despair. The false brightness of the lights makes the colors in the store riot: If it's Jan-Feb, it's a loud red of Valentine's Day Heart-shaped candy boxes. Easter is neon pink and green and yellow. Halloween the same shelf is vivid orange and yellow. It hurts to look at the red signs that scream, "SALE!" and the yellow starbursts with discounts marked on them.

So you go stand in line for the "DROP OFF" portion of your stay there. You reckon you can handle this environment for a few minutes. The music in the store is on VERY loudly. There are three people in fron of you shifting their feet and looking around as the pharmacist makes phone calls and talks with the first woman. The people waiting in the pick-up line are sitting in blue plastic chairs. They're trying not to stare at us in line but they're faced in our direction. They look a little deperate and unhappy.

Then the phone starts shrilling, which it'll keep doing. People's cell phones are ringing and they're shouting, "WHAT? I can't HEAR YOU!!" The song playing loudly over the speakers is:

"Give me the beat boys and free my soul
I wanna get lost in your rock and roll
And drift away"

You detest that song with every fiber of your being. You're waiting for the song to end but it goes on, punctuated by rings of the phone. The phone rings will line up with the beat of the song and then clash with it eventually. Your skin crawls. Once you finally drop the prescription off you're free to walk around the narrow aisles of the store. There's a child pinwheeling around trying to make herself dizzy who comes close to crashing into you. Suddenly, you feel like people are all weird creatures that Ralph Steadman designed. The looks on their faces are brought out by the harsh light of the store. It makes them look green. The buzz of the fluorescent lights makes you realize that this is what it's like to be a moth in a bug-zapper.

After 30 minutes of this, you realize you want to scream. Something's wrong with your jaw. You have to unclench it, but it's impossible because when you go pick up your meds, the person behind you is standing REALLY close to you. Breathing down your neck. You're ready to cry.

Maybe it's PMS? But no, you step outside again and everything's ok. You look forward to going home, giving treats to kitty, cooking your special pasta sauce and calling your boyfriend. CVS never happened.

[mdmc]

1. who is Ralph Steadman? Great read... k/r

[Sugar Smack]

4. Ralph Steadman did all the artwork in the Hunter Thompson books.

He's done wine labels too, and he has a fantastic feel for the absurd. He's one of my favorite artists. I have two of his books.

Thank you so much for the compliment! This was a little scary to write, actually. :hi:

[mdmc]

11. I know it must have been hard. Courage!

I really enjoyed reading your essay.

I am a big fan of Doonesbury, and back in the day, Garry Trudeau would sometimes draw "uncle duke" in a Steadman fashion. I won't be able to post a pic of this work on line, but I can try to find it. I think that you might enjoy it.

Peace and low stress and thanks for the post!

[Sugar Smack]

25. "uncle duke" was Hunter Thompson.

mdmc, I really liked his artwork. He based that character on HST and he had really good information. Thank you so much. I miss the good doctor.

"Courage". Dan Rather said that, right? :D :pals:

[mdmc]

44. Rather might have said it. I read it in Bloom County

All about the toons.:toast:

[Crazy Dave]

2. It's a good thing...

"...the person behind you is standing REALLY close to you (with real bad B.O.)" wasn't a factor.
:hi:

[Sugar Smack]

5. So, I neglected to mention the cloying rose perfume?

Like being run over by the Glade air-freshener truck? Silly me. :hi:

[skygazer]

3. You know, I can really relate to this

Too much visual and aural input, that's what does it to me. It's mind-bending, like some sort of hallucinogenic trip (but not nearly as fun).

My poor daughter has been inflicted with panic attacks, too (I blame myself - I blame myself for most everything so I may as well for this). She works retail and she's such a responsible person that she'll huddle behind her register having a severe panic attack but if someone comes into the store, she'll peek over the counter and whisper, "Can I help you?"

Poor little thing. :(

[Sugar Smack]

8. I remember when I worked in retail.

Your poor daughter. :hug: The cacophony of noise and sensory overload can really get to a person, especially if she's trying to concentrate and be professional. I feel for her.I wouldn't blame you at all because you understand her.

Too little space and too much noise. You were right about it like being on hallucinogens, although I've never been on them: the feeling is of unreality.

[Oeditpus Rex]

20. 'Sensory overload'

That's exactly what I've been calling it for years. :toast:

There's a whole lotta stores et al whose designers and managers need to realize many people do not like this, whether they get panic attacks or not.

And "unreality" describes my panic attacks in a single word.

[Sugar Smack]

26. Once, I asked the person at "Kmart" to shut the noise off.

It was unbearable.

Right now, I feel like Rabrrrrrr. :bounce: :toast:

[NMMNG]

45. Sensory overload

I have a problem with that myself, particularly when the input is not of my own choosing. For a little over two years I worked as the receptionist at the agency where I work with the developmentally disabled. I tried it out as it payed better than the direct care positions. It was a huge mistake. All day I was subjected to the ringing of the phone (8 lines), dozens of people talking, yelling and coming in and out of the front door (typically slamming it in the process). Then in the afternoons when the clients got home from their day programs the waiting area would fill up with them and I would end up supervising them while trying to answer the phones and deal with visitors to the office. So I'd have all of them talking, yelling (and sometimes even attacking me) while I was trying to do my job! To make matters even worse, I was doing this all on an average of 3.5 hours of sleep since I was working my second full-time job back to back with this one.


After two years of that I nearly had a nervous breakdown.

[Sugar Smack]

48. "when the input is not of my own choosing"--> Well said.

I should have been wearing headphones, but I needed to hear them call my name so I could get out of there. And the layers of sound seemed to get louder and louder:

1. The world's worst-ever song repeating itself loudly & endlessly
2. The phone ringing and sometimes lining up with the beat of the song
3. That bug-zapper noise of the lights
4. Cel phone people: "I can't hear you!"
5. "Mommy, watch this!!"
6. Sick baby wailing, mother's shushing getting louder

The whole thing was mostly a metaphor for when I was having panic attacks, but the experience reminded me how abrupt they could be. Outside the store, everything made sense. Inside the store, you couldn't hear yourself think. It brought on the exact same feeling I had with panic attacks.

[NMMNG]

75. You ever get the impulse

to just put your hands over your ears and just scream "everybody shut up!!!"?


I just saw "Mad Love" the other day and there was that scene in the restaurant where Casey was sitting there looking around at all of the other diners as they were laughing, talking, clinking their utensils against their plates, etc. You could just tell every little sound was grating on her, and the cacophony was plucking her nerves so bad that she felt like she was going to crawl right out of her skin. I could empathize with her. I'm sure you can too.

[Mad_Dem_X]

56. Your poor daughter...

One of the reasons I'm glad I don't have kids - I'm afraid they would have panic attacks like I do!

[DS1]

6. Bah! I used to work there

Hell of fucking earth, and they made me have THREE interviews to get a shit cashier job any monkey could walk in and do.

Plus they would always give me 29.5 hours a week - because 30 hours a week meant they had to give me bennies.

And relatively speaking, you heard the best song on the loop, I wish I were kidding.

[Sugar Smack]

21. Oh, for fuck's sake, NO!

I mean, NO to all of it. Are you serious? I WISH they'd given you bennies: anything to make that living hell more palatable. So what you're saying is that the song playing on the loop in hell isn't actually the worst?

I haven't felt fear like that in a long time. :scared: Maybe I'll go back to flossing 4 times a day (as my dentist suggests- so I won't go there).

[DS1]

40. Alright, I have no idea what this song is/was, but now that I've made it

past the trauma, I'm going to google it and see if I can find it for you...


well THAT fucking figures

Hall and Oates

I can walk all alone through a river of fire
Cause my heart is true
Put my soul on the line
That's what I'd do
There's a power in passion
That I can't control
It's a natural reaction
I can't let it go


I'm a man on a mission to love you
I'm gonna make you mine
I'm a man on a mission
I can't stop tryin' now
I'm gonna make you mine

Where angels fear to fly
That's where I go with my foolish pride
I got too close to the sun
I was the one looking for you

Feel the power in passion
When it's takin' control
It's a natural reaction
And I can't let it go



Can't you see what you mean to me?
How much I need you
You know we owe each other honesty
So tell me what can I do
To get to you



UPDATE

FLASHY UPDATE END FLASHY

You can listen to it

here

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/wma-pop-up/B000083JT6001001/ref=mu_sam_wma_001_001/104-4532418-6955913

[jeanarrett]

60. What does the Vaseline and basket mean?

I've been trying to figure it out and I'm too dumb. By the way, this is my 500th post!

[bridgit]

7. palpable, sweety, that feeling = it's felt on the skin as well...

hubby has a line, "it is felt upon the tongue the skin, it is the very path itself what moves upon the water", those little things that set it off...he has mentioned it as a feeling he has 'tuned in' when walking into even what seems to be an ambush scenario :thumbsdown:

:hug:

[Sugar Smack]

27. It's icky, right?

ICKY. You know from whence I speak. Thanks for the hug. :hug:

[bridgit]

63. yucky icky...

x(

[johnnie]

9. That's what that is called?

I get those all the time, but I joke about it. I have been known to have a cart full of groceries and just leave because it is a bit too much.

I have always just looked at it as that I don't like to be bugged and that's it. Is that really a medical condition?

[Sugar Smack]

53. "I don't like to be bugged" is right.

I really never knew what the purpose was of overdoing everything for an experience that's supposed to be simple. That also includes air conditioning. During the summer a lot of places tend to over- air conditon and it sucks!

If you get them all the time in public places, you may have a slight anxiety problem but then, I really also agree with your "I don't like to be bugged". :)

[In_The_Wind]

10. Oh Sugar!

I am so sorry!

Can you find a smaller pharmacy? All of the chains sound like that one.

BTW ~ O R ask me to say "Hello", he thought you were still here. I wish you were.

[Sugar Smack]

49. When I first saw "smaller pharmacy" I thought you were talking

about size. Then I realized you were talking about chains. I WISH we had a small local pharmacy! Hey, say Hi to OR for me. I wish I was there too. :yourock:

[In_The_Wind]

76. Most of the businesses in your neighborhood seemed faily new.

I guess the personal touch of a family owned store where the customer comes first is a thing of the past.





It was wonderful to see you again sleeping beauty. :loveya: I tried to call you tonight. :( missed ya

[no name no slogan]

12. I'm with skygazer. Stimulation overload.

I get really really nervous around crowds in public places. And it's even worse when you're doing something that you have NO WAY of escaping.

My pharmacy is in a clinic in an "interesting" part of town. Lots of non-English speakers, many on Medicaid or the state-subsidized insurance program trying to follow undecipherable bureaucratic rules, lots of screaming sick kids, plenty of hard-of-hearing and/or confused old people, and the pharmacy is chronically understaffed. Lately it's gotten better, but even when I pre-filled my scrips I would still have to wait around for 15-30 minutes. Seeing as I have five scrips I fill each month, I'm usually there at least once every two weeks.

I'm glad to hear you survived your ordeal. And I can't wait to see you in a few weeks! :loveya:

[Sugar Smack]

54. All I have to do is look at your journal to remember!

LOL!!:rofl: :loveya:

I can't wait either. I'll call you tonight.

[Redstone]

13. Home Depot is even worse. Stay away from that place, or

you'll have a siezure.

Redstone

[Oeditpus Rex]

22. Home depot has nice, wide aisles, BUT

it's noisy, and the shelves are so high I always feel like a bunch of 4x4s or a lawn mower's gonna fall on me.

[Lavender Brown]

14. My first job was at CVS

I worked there when I was 16 and 17. I've barely stepped into the store since. No matter which town you are in, whichever store, they all smell exactly. the. same. :argh:

[Sugar Smack]

46. Have you seen "The Langoliers"?

I like cheesy Stephen King movies, and the store I went into reminded me of the quality of air in the airport the characters entered. There were NO acoustics, no echoes. And that smell you're talking about is right- how would you describe it? I'd say it's a combination of a mild sick sweetness, a paper mill, and some bitter carpet chemical.

Wow- and you had to work there too! You should see DS1's reply. I feel for ya. :pals:

[khashka]

15. I hate to disagree with you, my friend

But that's no panic attack - that's just being justifiably pissed off. Everything was combining to upset you and I empathasize.

But a real panic attack is when you sit on the floor shaking and sweating and scared out of your mind for no reason at all.

Then again, maybe mine are worse than yours. Or I'm describing PTSD rather than panic.

Whatever, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I won't use CVS - they suck major big time. I will use Walgreen's which I hate. Could they be more surly? But CVS, never ever - I have more respect for myself.

Sorry you had such a bad experience. You didn't deserve it.

Advice: Many local grocery stores also have pharmacies. They are usually faster, politer, and don't put you through hell to get your prescription filled. You might wanna try it if you have one near you.


:)

Khash.

[Ariana Celeste]

17. I think it's just a bit different for everyone

Personally, I can't sit still when I have them. It makes it worse. I have to get up and move and pace around, shaky and faint, everything too loud and everything smells so much stronger then just a few minutes ago, thinking something terrible may be happening to me, among other things.

Just varies depending on the person. :hug: Sounds like yours are pretty bad. :(

[khashka]

23. Yours are very familiar.....

I sit still then can't and start pacing. All your senses - sound sight smell - become so acute! That terrible feeling of danger and impending doom.....

The worst thing is that it's for no good reason! (If it was something bad that had happened , you could deal with it, you'ld know what to do!)
You know nothing bad has happened or is going to.

But that knowledge, doesn't matter does it?

I'm sorry, Ariana, that you've suffered this. Nobody who hasn't can truly understand. And in retrospect my reply to SS was not fair.


I once had a doctor tell me what seems simple to you may be devastating to someoneelse. As an (ex) psych I should know that intuitively. But I have to be reminded.

I appologize to SS. I'm sure her experience was truly terrible. And, unintentially, I played the "I'm a worse victim than you" card. That's not honest, not fair, and not nice.

We experience different things, but many of them affect us in the same ways.

The thing about panic atacks is they often seem random. SS seems to be figuring out what causes them. Very hard. And much praise to her for doing so. It surely is hard to do that....

Khash.

Khash

[Sugar Smack]

28. Khash-

I LOVE you. You are a very articulate poster and you'll continue to move me thru DU. I loved your answers; both of them. So don't stop posting to me, ok? You're my buddy. No need for apology. :pals: :yourock:

[khashka]

31. Well.....

I'm quite popular (and it took years!) And now you are a threat to my position.

So if I'm mean to you... it's just competition. Nothing personal.


We are buddies... but you are getting to be a little too well liked around here. I like my buddies to remain in the shadows! I'm the STAR!!!!!!



LOL!

Khash.


(Attentionwhore R me)

[Sugar Smack]

33. BWAH!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I'm going to bed now, but I'll answer you PROPERLY in the morn.

Geez.:rofl: :patriot:

[Oeditpus Rex]

29. Sounds to me like you two

are describing anxiety attacks instead of panic attacks. People have different symptoms of panic — or at least describe them differently — but the one you hear all the time is I've got to get out of here!

Pacing? Unthinkable. It's get out... now.

[Ariana Celeste]

34. Not for everyone

that's very common, but it's not how it works for everyone. Here, check this out. http://www.adaa.org/GettingHelp/AnxietyDisorders/Panicattack.asp

I do have issues with anxiety for sure, but my panic attacks are more of the feeling like I'm going to have a heart attack variety. :hi:

[khashka]

35. Well, OR

The symptoms of anxiety and panic often overlap And so with lesser forms of PTSD. As I used to be a psych, I often felt that the DSM was a waste of time. A good guide - but not the answer.


The difference between Panic and Anxiety was a feeling of unreality. That none of this is real. If it ain't real it can't scare you. Wrong. The unreality only makes it worse.

I'm talking about panic. In my worst moments ...... and thank all the gods they are few and becoming fewer.... but when things get really bad... I think I might possibly think... no I won't say it.


But OR... you are so wrong. Most barricade themselves in in my experience. Become reclusive. Because being alone is safe. In social situations you are right........ "get out now!"!


But is very difficult to distinguih between panic and anxiety and PTSD........

Khash.

[Ariana Celeste]

36. you are so right

During panic attacks I've only ever felt the need to escape when I was in public or around people in general. At other people's homes I would lock myself in a bathroom.
Most of my attacks however come unexpectedly, just randomly, and since I spend most of my time in my home (I'm a housewife and reclusive) I generally get them when I'm at home. I never feel the need to escape from my home, and even if I have friends in the room I happen to be in. Because it's my territory. You know?
It's the doom, the feeling something terrible is happening to me, that is much worse, and I know I can't escape from that. As far as ever feeling the need to escape, it was only because I don't like people to see me that way, I don't like being judged. Once I'm away I can deal with what I truly feel is wrong with me. And handle myself, generally by pacing. Hope I made sense, it's so hard to describe.

[khashka]

41. Everyhing you said I indentified with

What struck me was :"I don't like people to see me that way"

This might make sense:

I didn’t want to let them see me weep,
I didn’t want to let them see me weak,
- Kate Bush



I know that feeling of doom. I know it intimately. And yet you never really know it. Because every time it's new and unanticaped. And yet you think "I know this!". But that means nothing.


I know what you feel... sucks, huh ?
Seriously!


Khash.

[Oeditpus Rex]

42. Barricading is symptomatic of something else

Agoraphobia.

In a panic attack, the overwhelming impulse is to get away from the perceived source of the panic. In the irrational mindset, that's one's location, or something in one's location.

Even in the few panic attacks I've had at home, my most immediate urge was to get to another room. I've awakened with them several times and headed straight for the bathroom — not because I needed bathroom facilities, but because the bathroom was Someplace Else.

[khashka]

47. You proved my point....

I just misphrased it.

But you sought out a safe place. Come on OR cowering in the bathroom? That's not agoraphobia,that's panic/anxiety!


You needed a safe place and you found it. For me the Safe Place is elsewhere. Sometimes anywhere else. Sometimes somewhere where I know I'll be loved, safe, protected.


Shit, OR, you deal with this too? I'm so sorry. :hug:

I admitted that panic/anxiety/ PTSD can be difficult to distinguish. To a professional they come across (in the early stages) as very similar. I'm beginning to beleive that my problem is really PTSD - admitting that is nearly as hard as dealing with it,

I'm a tough guy, I can deal with anything! How do I admit that's not true?

I can do therapy on others, but on me? No way. I just can't

Khash.

[Mad_Dem_X]

58. I can't stay still either

I have to walk around, keep moving. Watching TV for some reason calms me down, but even then I'm usually rocking back and forth and playing with my hair.

[Sugar Smack]

65. You are

SO SWEET! Thank you so much for being the way you are. The thing about that experience is that it was pretty much induced and it really brought on claustrophobia. But it echoed exactly my panic attacks that I'd had. I remember having to get UP and get OUT of wherever I was! :hug:

[Shine]

16. Shake it off, Sugar.

glad it was just a temporary blip on the radar screen of Life...
:hug:

Sorry you had to deal...ugh.

[Sugar Smack]

18. I never had to shake it off. I just stepped out of the store.

That's really all it took. :hi: :hug:

[oneighty]

19. Panic attacks

Oh boy! I suffer them. Fluorescent lights fluctuate at sixty cycles a second affecting some people to the point of causing a seizure.

Like you I get sensory overload, no air, perfume, hyperventilate, no escape, dry throat, who will help me, too weak to make it to the exit.

What to Do? What to do?

Will I look foolish laying on the floor struggling to breathe?

Cannot breathe in cannot breathe out.

Will they poke at me to see if I respond?

Will they laugh at me? Will they take pictures?

"Hey Mom. Is he drunk?"

Sometime I get to the entrance of the local drug store and anticipating failure I dare not enter.

180

[Sugar Smack]

62. I really think you're something, oneighty.

You write so beautifully. I love your style and I think what you just said is dead-on target.

[oneighty]

74. I was in the

grocery store today-one careful step at a time thinking of this thread.

Truth-I have avoided a serious attack for almost a year now and I am pleased with that.

I do hope you are okay Sugar Smack.

180

[jane_pippin]

24. I'm sorry Sugar. Sometimes those kinds of places can really make you

feel like a "person unit," you know? It's no good.

I'm glad you're feeling better now though. :hug:

[Sugar Smack]

64. Thanks, Jane! All it really involved was stepping in,

going batshit, and then stepping out. These things never stay with me but I do remember a few details. :D :hug: :pals: :yourock:

[GoddessOfGuinness]

30. I had a panic attack at a party once

and I was horrifically embarrassed by it. The party was given by friends of Mr GoG's; and I really didn't know more than a couple of people there. The place was wall-to-wall people, and the music was blaring. I suddenly couldn't breathe and my heart started pounding. I had to go outside. When Mr GoG found me I told him I really needed to leave; but I wouldn't mind if he wanted to go back after he dropped me off.

I've had them at other times too; but that was probably the worst.

[Sugar Smack]

66. Hey, darlin'!!!!

:hi: What's weird is that no one can tell if you're acting "weird" but you when this happens. I have had people comment on my apparent serenity and calmness when I'd confessed to having a panic attack. My paralysis somehow worked for me. Worst thing anyone said was that I'd seemed "preoccupied". Except people that know me. If I muttered "panic attack" they knew not to talk to me. I had to ride it out in silence. :pals:

[miss_american_pie]

32. Oh Sugar

How awful. :hug:

[Sugar Smack]

67. Thank you.

DO NOT GO TO CVS. There. That's my PSA for the week. :patriot:

[RetroLounge]

37. Oh, man, that hits close to home

Luckily my Panic Attacks haven't resumed and I've been off the Xanax for a month now without a re-occurence.

They suck...

:hug:

RL

[Sugar Smack]

68. Baby.

:hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:

Good for you.

[LynzM]

38. Hugs to you, Sugar

I have anxiety attacks, but they're mild, compared with the experiences of many. The feeling of being detached, of unreality, really hits home, though. I'm glad that yours went away once you were able to get back outside. :hug:

[Sugar Smack]

69. That crazy place really got to me.

Thank you so much. You are the best.

[KT2000]

39. I bet the air quality

in that store is very poor. These box stores usually have lousy air quality. Sometimes their air system draws its air from polluted areas such as loading docks, areas of the store where toxic materials are sitting (such as lawn chemicals and laundry products) and in one place I go to - the tire store. Then they clean the air system using more chemicals. Stores will even reduce the air exchange to save money. Sometimes they do not clean the air system so it blows mold and dust.


If you are a person who is sensitive to chemicals or losing your tolerance for chemicals, inhaling them can trigger things like you experienced. But of course - corprate america prefers you think it is YOUR mental state not their stores which are really chemical soups with lousy air.

[Sugar Smack]

70. That was very enlightening, especially your take

on the chemical issue. I told Lavender Brown that a serious issue I had aside from the total oppressiveness of that store was the smell. Thank you for that post.

[spacelady]

43. Yep, that's about right. Never mind those bumping your ass with their

shopping cart. Excellent narrative! I am a Steadman wannabee but you are way ahead of me! Kitty!

[Sugar Smack]

50. Oh, I simply LOVE being assrammed by a shopping cart.

Thank you so much for the compliment, btw! :) If you're a Steadman wannabe then I really want to see your work.

[StaggerLee]

51. Anxiety attacks and panic attacks - are they the same thing?

My brother has been known to hyper ventilate when he gets panicky but he hasn't gone through that in a while.


I've never been diagnosed but I had a few panic attacks back in 2000 when I was going through a stressful period with my then roommates. One of those times I had to vacate a mall I was shopping in and sought the most desolate spot in the parking lot to recover.

Your story is quite scary. Almost like there was no way out.

[Mad_Dem_X]

59. Panic is more severe

Panic is a step or so more frightening than anxiety. I've had anxious episodes before, and they're next to nothing compared w/a full-blown panic attack.

[StaggerLee]

61. Thanks for the clarification

It seems that my episodes were purely anxiety attacks. I count myself among the lucky.

[_testify_]

52. this is wonderful

thanks for writing it.

"The false brightness of the lights makes the colors in the store riot"

I like that.

[Sugar Smack]

71. Hey, testify!

:hi: I appreciate your appreciation, very much! So have you been in a CVS too?

*shudders*

[Mad_Dem_X]

55. Bright lights always do it for me

I haven't had a panic attack in well over a year (knock wood), but many of the ones I've had in the past have been triggered by brightly-lit places. I totally know what you're going thru.

[Sugar Smack]

72. It was too much.

There was nowhere to go. Everywhere you looked, bright magazines. Makeup. Candy. In horrible excess as well. You sound like you know a thing or two about this yourself.

[anarch]

57. our local CVS is more like a full-on, schizophrenic break with reality

Or maybe a bad acid trip...the passage of time is altered (especially while waiting to check out), you are assaulted with all kinds of unnatural smells, and the faces of all the people inside are twisted and angry, as if they might attack you at any moment... :scared:

[Sugar Smack]

73. I absolutely hate CVS at this point.

You're so right. Thanks also for identifying. I swear, one of the reasons I even stared this thread was because the store itself wa crazy-making and I wanted to know how others felt. "Assaulted" is a good word. :o

[InsultComicDog]

77. I know the feeling

Not always but every once in a while, the place seems intolerable. I just have to get the fuck out of there.

(I prefer to use the drive up window if I can)