I blame myself for the lack of friends I have.

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I don't exactly think I can put myself out there with making friends because I not keen on getting rejected and I know I should blame my illness with not getting friends but I think it's my own doing because I feel I'm not a likeable person to at least some people and in my early 40's I can't change how I feel. Do any of you feel this way?

TBH, the only reason I don't, is that I don't much care whether I've got friends or not, I just focus on doing things I like, and if those things involve people, then I'll have friends. But, I've rarely had any luck making friendships that were durable beyond the particular activity.

That being said, even most NTs tend to have issues making friends in other ways once they're out of school. I think all my Dad's friends are bar buddies. My Mom has a slightly wider pool of friends, but their nearly entirely either the parents of kids I went to school with or people she worked with.

Having no friends is becoming increasingly common in society. Without repeated coincidental interactions, it's hard to make friends. For many adults, that means they're limited to spouse/kids and work colleagues.

As for not being likeable, if there's traits you don't like having, you can work on those traits. Hopefully you would do so without blame, as you being like you are now is caused by various factors like physiology and life experience. If you get to the point where you don't resent yourself, then you will be less insecure and find it easier to make the connection when the right person comes along.

Trying to change traits simply based on what others like won't lead to authentic connections, as it will draw people who like the fake traits. Better to be alone in that case. No one is liked by everyone and some of us have a smaller pool than others, similar to dating. It's the matter looking for the right person and leading a fulfilling life in the meantime. Our foibles that reduce our options also make us a better fit with a minority of people who would not otherwise be able to make a connection.

I have a few friends though I wished I had more. My good friend tells me it's not my fault that I can't make more friends due to my illness but I can't help blame myself.

Not to belittle anybody's problems, but if you have a few friends, you're probably on par with other folks. There's this sense that people have that everybody else has a bunch of friends, but the reality is that most people have fewer than 5 actual friends, the rest are acquaintances at best.