Do I have Aspergers?

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Hi, guys.

..Not sure how to start this thread out smoothly so I'll get straight to the point
I'm 17 years old and think I might have Aspergers. I only found out what it was about 9 months ago (or thereabouts) and had never heard of it before.
I was diagnosed with social anxiety disorder just over a year ago, again I'd not heard about it until a month or so before at which time I had pretty much immediately decided to go see somebody about it, because I knew that my social difficulties were beyond simple shyness (hence me Googling and discovering SA).
Despite my only being diagnosed with SA just over a year ago, I have had social difficulties (to the extent they directly interfered with my every day life) for years; it started getting really bad - that is I would, according to my teacher at the time, barely speak at all - since about year 4. However, I hadn't had any friends at school minus my sister ever since my family moved to Australia from the UK when I was in year 2. I have some quite cringe-worthy memories of my complete clueless-ness when it came to making friends, after I started my new school in Australia.

So, ever since I arrived in Australia in year 2, I had managed to scrape by, socially, without drawing concern from parents or teachers to the extent I might have something wrong with me, of course they all assumed I would eventually grow out of it.
Whilst things got better on the friends side of things once I reached high school - that is, I had some - socially I have always been out of place, and I've always been the silent, weird, loner (I don't mean that in a pretentious way, obviously ) and my extreme social anxiety has remained, though sheltered to a large extent from the view of teachers once again by my clinging onto my good friends.
But, my social difficulties have never seemed to me to be simply .. fear of social situations. The same thing that motivated me to go see somebody about social anxiety; that is, it was a lot more than simple 'shyness', it was complete social ineptitude, has gone further to make me realise that it is more than just social anxiety that seems to be the issue, here.

When faced with situations where for whatever reason my social anxiety allows me to be more open to others, I've found that I find it extremely hard to function in normal conversations. I seem completely unable to engage in small talk with people, especially strangers, and also find myself .. completely uninterested in topics of conversation 'normal' people seem to engage in.
I find it extremely hard to have a decent conversation with others unless it is about ... factual things, my opinion on things, or things I am specifically interested in, politics or history for example.

I'm not sure if I'm expressing my experiences adaquetly here, in fact I'm almost certain that I'm not, but let me just say that I am convinced, and have been convinced for a very long time now, that my mind seems to be fundamentally different from other people, that I am unable to fit in not simply because I'm socially inexperienced (though for a little while I thought that the reason I had no idea how to function socially was because due to my social anxiety I must've missed out on some crucial years of social development during primary school that had screwed me up for life :p) but because I interact socially in a completely different way from most other people.

I've been Googling Aspergers for a little while now, and have found much I can relate to. For example, social difficulties, intense interests in specific things,
However, another aspect of Aspergers is apparently a lack of empathy.
This is something I do not relate to because I consider myself to be extremely and unusually empathetic. In the words of my mother, so much so that I am burdened by it.
Whilst in many ways I find my heart overwhelmingly controlled by my head, I think I 'feel' through my head, I am an extremely sensitive person, and have found myself before relating to others almost completely (for example, I cried for about a week after seeing Star Wars Episode III because I empathised so much with Anakin and I found the story so incredibly tragic! ).
However, in another way that I feel is very much congruous with this 'lack of empathy' is that ... I have never liked reading fiction books. I can never get into them.
I do however, love reading non-fiction, because I love learning, especially about topics that I am specifically interested in. I don't mean that in a pretentious way.
I've never enjoyed drama in school, and a lot of times watching drama performances makes me cringe, regardless of how good they are. I don't know exactly what that implies, but it could imply something :p
Hmm...

I'm not quite sure what else to say, but I'm trying to give you a good picture of what I'm like so you can give me your opinions.
If I don't have Aspergers I know I must have something else which is similar :p

But, I did this online test (and I know that online tests don't mean much, but you know ..) on Aspergers, see w w w . r d o s . n e t / e n g / A s p i e - q u i z . p h p and my results were
Your Aspie score: 162 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 36 of 200
You are very likely an Aspie

Which seems to, very much, support my suspicions, but again I'm aware it's just an internet test.

So, give me your opinions, please.

I now realise how unnecessarily long this is... but I won't go back and edit. I can't be bothered :p

you may be an aspie. maybe you should be tested. If I understand things correctly, alot of aspies do not know they are aspies until later in life. Maybe you are just finding out sooner rather than later.

Take care,

Jayson

Nice to meet you, mogenim.

hello Mogenim,
I really feel for you, I have a husband who is aspergic , he was only diagnosed in his thirties my eldest daughter was diagnosed at 11yrs and my youngest who is now 14 is in the process !
This has been a very uphill struggle with each of them.
I would recommend that you get you self a copy of Tony Attwoods book on aspergers it was recommended to me by a doctor and it really is great, in my humble opinion it really is the best imformation you will find to help you at the moment
Good luck

Well I know I do. I was diagnosed 7 years ago.