Social Anxiety Disorder

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yes, im not exactly sure what my diagnosis is called but its way worse then "general" anxiety, more like major anxiety, then i made an appointment with a psychologist and discussed my options and after going through many anti depressants, we settled on an anti depressant called effexor, it has helped me very much.

I always felt a little different particulary with people my age (they were different !) : I was not a child like them (more mature ? not the same interest ? shy ?). I imagined me feel more at my place at university. But there I still did not want to get closer with people : some of them tried to become friends with me but I did nothing for that... Different !

At the age of 20 it became more and more difficult for me to go to the courses, to work, to learn. I took distance with the people that showed interest for me... (where they "friends" ? for them I was maybe a friend but I not sure I could call them friends... that was ever a problem for me ! but that's not really the question here) It was terrifying to get out anywhere...

I realized that I had a real problem and wasn't simply idle. After some research I discovered about ASD... It seemed to explain all of my problems ! But I was alone too far from my parents, had nobody to speak about this... So it was hard to deal with it and through ups and downs, trying to work against ASD I have done some progress but not as much as I would or should...

The last months I thought more and more that there must be something else that Social Phobia... What ?!?

By talking with a girl recently she asked me if I ever was diagnosed as "gifted". I don't like such "labels" so I didn't really took care about this...

Recently I heard an Asperger speaking on radio... No real idea why but immediately I searched about this on the Web. I first was surprised by recognizing me so much but said : "It's like in every "psy disorder", everyone can feel concerned !". But that makes me wanna learn more... Really disturbing all I did find ! I was unsure...

It's by reading "Aspies" speaking about therselves that I became "sure" : "that's me !". So many things I could have written by myself ! It explained so many things about my all life since I'm a little child !

Yesterday I asked my mother about things I was unsure about my past or how I was as kid... And she learned me some interesting things like I was - at 3 years - spending my "recreation time" alone in the classroom like a teacher told... Now I'm sure that Social Phobia did not explain everything, that I had something "different" at the begining.

Will try to become diagnosed but I saw it can ben hard when your an adult...

(sorry for the mistakes and strange way to speak, I'm french)

I used to have it bad, back in 7th grade.

I have immense social anxiety. It's what I assumed I must have had until I saw a documentary about a guy who had Asperger's & recognized so much of myself in him. So many people (in fact most) with social anxiety/phobia still lead "normal" lives despite it. My life has been far from normal & deeply impaired in all ways because of it. I've done a lot of reading on AS & realized that it explains everything in my life, not just the social aspects of it. I still haven't mentioned AS (or PDD-NOS, or HFA-- because I did have developmental delays, which I guess technically rules out AS) to my psychiatrist because I don't want him to think I'm a hypochondriac & he may not believe me, although I know it must be true. Asperger's, according to everything I've read can result in social anxiety, & it would explain why I've dealt with it all my life. Nothing ever caused my social anxiety, like so many others', it was just always there... just like I believe the Asperger's (PDD-NOS, HFA, possibly) was always there.

What do you think of the following?

I don't have anxiety for other people per se, it's more that I'm anxious of talking as an activity. I hardly know what to say and in a conversation with > 2 persons the conversation between the other persons usually goes way too rapidly for me to intervene.

And even if there is something substantial I could tell (e.g. after someone asks me 'How was your vacation?') I feel embarassed and tired after having said three sentences in a row.

However I'm fine with another person do the larger part of the talking to me in a 1:1 situation and me asking a short question or making a short comment in between.

Does this make me qualified for SAD, AS, both or neither?