I got news for you, I tend to stay away from a lot of functions and areas due to fragrances.
One day, I slipped up and went to a wedding shower for my sister’s future daughter-in-law. Neither one of us thought ahead. The door opened, and I got nailed before I even walked in the door. Within minutes, my throat was tightening up and I had to leave. My brother, who was working out with me swimming, saw first-hand what it did to me and my ability to take air in. It took some time for it all to get out of my system.
Your question about going out in public: I tend to go when I know there won’t be many people around. I shop late at night or early in the morning, although holding my breath and grabbing fragrance-free laundry soap in the middle of aisle is a challenge. The occasional movie is at times when only a handful of people are in the theater. Such like that.
It’s a pain but I simply deal with it the best I can.
It’s so rare to hear from other people with fragrance allergies. Have you ever had a headache or something from perfume that left you in an altered state? I only had that twice but it’s freaked me out because I felt drunk, or dizzy, not able to judge distances.
You sound worse than me though I’m blessed to work from home and go out pretty infrequently. I worry though that I’m setting my daughter up to be sensitive to scents because I don’t have any in the house; my husband now gets headaches from fragrances because we’ve been fragrance free for our whole marriage.
I got called to jury duty once. Selection process was in a Small room with several people who were dosed with the stuff. Luckily there was a plea bargain early on. I was really getting sick. Next time that happens I am not going to be so nice. Talk about being trapped.