Introduction and reason for joining

Hello,

I'm a 27 years old male from England. For a few years I've suspected I may have 'Asperger Syndrome'/ASD but I've never been certain.

I've been thinking about it again recently because I started a new job and as usual I quickly felt socially isolated from others, like I just couldn't connect with anyone else. Everyone seems to effortlessly talk and socialise and be themselves and I just can't do that, I feel so strange and different to them. I can't do the social chit-chat thing. I either don't talk or I talk specifically about work stuff or about the university subject I'm interested in. It's like this outside of work as well. I have three friends that I've managed to stick with since school and I'm close to my parent and two young siblings. Otherwise, I find it difficult to make friends. Romantic relationships seem impossible and maybe not even desirable. 

I'm considering trying to get a diagnosis but I've heard that it can take a long time and I'm worried I wouldn't be believed. I've previously been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder so I think a GP would just try to pin everything on that. I've considered that it could just be the anxiety disorder, but it doesn't seem to fit or explain everything. It seems as if the problems are coming from something more fundamental. For instance, when I've managed to somewhat reduce social anxiety in the past I still haven't been able to socialise well. I simply don't understand how to socialise properly in practice, with or without the anxiety. There are other things I experience that apparently may also be suggestive of AS/ASD, such as having limited but in-depth interests, finding eye-contact difficult, getting anxious about unexpected changes, finding busy and noisy environments overwhelming, finding humour difficult to navigate in social situations. Then again there are other things that seem to be typically associated with AS/ASD that I don't experience, such as an interest and ease with patterns and numbers, and a lack of interest in fiction. But as it's called a spectrum, I honestly don't really understand what constitutes a diagnosis of ASD, and I don't know if my associations with ASD are more stereotypical than accurate.

Hopefully this isn't too long for an introduction post. It might convey my ambiguity and frustrations at this point in life. I've joined this forum in hope of finding advice and guidance. 

Thanks to anyone who reads this rather self-indulgent post.