Aspergers and social phobia

Post Reply New Topic

Social anxiety (and at times phobia) is one of the things that led me to try to figure out what is going on with me, and I do believe that it is related to the autistic spectrum. I've been in front of the public my entire life (singing), and have spoken in public since high school (debate and speech competition ), but put me in a social situation or party with people I don't know very well (and sometimes with people I do know well) and I start to have problems. It doesn't happen every time, but if I am surprised, if too many people come at me, or there is too much surrounding noise, heat, or light, I get anxious, and nauseous, my hearing fades, and sometimes I have minor panic attacks - the hard to get your breath kind.

I fake it really well that I'm having a good time, but I've begun arriving late to social events and leaving early if possible. If I can't reduce the socializing time, I realize that nausea or whatever will pass, and try to get some fresh air, or talk to someone I know in a vacant corner. The last couple of weeks were pretty stressful with socializing, so I spent a long weekend surfing a new special interest, WP, and seeing no one. That helped refill my social tank.