Isolation

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I'm sure this topic has been huge on here but I was wondering how people handle Isolation? There are times when I get overwhlemed like at family gatherings which make me nervious at times where I need to go to my room and stay for while. Can anyone else relate? I hope all is doing great.

I often eggscape to my room during family gatherings.

Eberryone considers it normal for me to disappear and reappear eberry once in awhile.

In a group of people, 90% of the time I am bewildered and mute up. Seldom case I find one very talkative friend to relate with.
I am feeling trapped all the time. But every people here (I mean in Hong Kong) has no concept of "Asperger" stuff and I am not dare to disclose this fact.

When it's time to detox, it's time.

If I'm drinking I'm fine, but i monopolize the conversation. When I'm not, I try to find games, a kid or animal to hang with. When I'm stuck, I generally let them talk, break in with a one-liner when I'm not zoned out. Before the gathering, I am thinking about more and more as it draws near because of anxiety. I cannot drink much because I am taking Vicodin for chronic pain related to degenerative disc disease (DDD) in my lumbar spine and DDD plus prominent bone spur in my cervical spine.

It is more difficult to deal with these situations, so I am finally seeking help.

Isolation is a horrible feeling for me. I tend to isolate myself from family gatherings, but never know why. I love my family, and I don't feel so socially phobic around my family, and I know they are always there for me, and they are not obnoxious people or ogres, so I don't know what my problem is. It might be because of my brother. If he's in the same room as me, I become very agitated. I think it's because he has unpredictable behaviour what unnerves me, like he'll amplify things like yawns and sneezes, etc, making me jump. He knows it makes me jump and so does it more, and then it makes me become angry. Now I have become avoidant of him and find myself keeping away when he's around, which then leads me to isolate myself from my family. It's just a rut I have got myself into and it's hard to change. Yes, I am like an old woman of 80; I get set in my ways. I should really change while I'm still young, because I hate isolating myself from people.

But I also feel isolated in other ways too. Like all of my family around me are all NTs and so all have a better chance of meeting new people and making friends than I have, and I'll probably be the last one to lose my virginity and get married (if it ever happens to me). I feel my AS restricts me from doing a lot of things what the average NT can learn to do naturally.

The other day my 19-year-old cousin was round, and she looked all pretty with her hair all done and her make-up on nicely, and she was getting ready to go out clubbing. She was on the phone to one of her mates, telling her how excited she was of seeing her boyfriend that night, and also they were discussing who else was coming out with them tonight and who wasn't. I just stood there feeling fed up, but I knew that if I did come out with them, I would feel like a fish out of water. I'm shy, I don't drink, and I don't think I would really get on and feel comfortable with a load of teenagers that are drinking (I don't drink).

I just wish I was originally an NT with loads of confidence and the cousin would say, ''please come out too, they all want you to come out'', and I can be like, ''yeah, no problem!'' and know how to dress up and style my hair and put make-up on, and go out to join my cousin's group of mates and become friends with them on the same night, all of them automatically thinking I am ''cool''.
But no. I'm just a stupid shy boring timid weed with AS.

Start smoking cigarettes. Then you can take breaks and go outside.

I will isolate from pretty much everyone, except my sister and my girlfriend.

I isolate myself a lot but I prefer it that way. I live with my mother and we rarely have company and I don't go out much.

I can definitely relate to having to find an isolated area in certain types of social situations. On several occasions I have had to find a quiet area away from others. I would like to add that often times when I work on a project, I like to be isolated from others.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb-4LDMpdp4[/youtube]

[I forgot to post this with my earlier response.]

I'm happy I'm not the only one that feels this way and like some of you there is someone in my family that makes me feel really umcomfortable and because of them I have to isolate from the rest of my family becasue they are at most of the family gatherings.

Isolation doesn't bother me, not even a little.

I passed the first years of my childhood completely isolated, and never suffered because of it.
I passed the time from the age of 11 up to the age of 13 completely isolated from the world and I've never suffered because of it.

When I was in 8th grade a teacher wrote in a report card "she seeks isolation, and doesn't want to approach other kids".
The same thing was written in many report cards, from elementary school.

I don't suffer from social anxiety; I just like being alone.

I did try to make an effort with people but I had to put in a huge effort and got little in return. A lot of people have let me down in my life. I got tired of trying. I now realize how I am viewed by the majority of people even though no one has said anything directly to me since I left school. To give an example of how I know this:
My sister organized a party and the house was crowded. I tried to organize a party for my birthday a while back. I really pushed myself out of my comfort zone inviting a lot of people- old school peers, college peers, other people I hung around with at a certain point in my life. I had to change the date three times to try and accommodate people. In fairness some people said they couldn't make it but a good few said they would be there, so I went ahead with it. Two people showed up and I ended up being pushed by one of them into going to a disco bar.
I now isolate myself because I feel really safe on my own. I don't really like talking to people the majority of the time. I actually feel disconnected from the majority of the world. I'm in my own little bubble.
My family were getting frustrated with me but they have a bit more of an understanding after they sat in on one of my therapy sessions.
The very odd time the isolation gets to me but then I think that me being in my own space is where I have felt the most acceptance now that I am beginning to come to terms with how Aspergers effects me. I may not always feel the need to isolate myself but for the moment that is the way it needs to be. College in September will be a challenge as it will be the first time in 8 months that I will be around a mass group of people.
I don't think there is anything wrong with a person always wanting or needing to be by themselves. Who made the rule that humans have to be social creatures?