Asperger and emotions

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Sometimes I wish there was a way to dial down how intensely I feel things. I was on a chat channel on a game I play and someone said that their whole left side was a bruise because they forgot to put the brakes on their wheel chair and it slipped out from under them. I "Ouch, I can sympathise" and they basically bit by head off saying stuff along the lines of could I really? That I didn't know their situation etc, and some of it was it all caps. I said I was sorry if trying to express sympathy offended them, and they said they were very offended by my sympathizing manner.

I had pretty much burst into tears at this point, but there was a part of me that realized that it's possibly they might not have been entirely serious. I sent them a private message asking if they were really angry or if they were just messing around and included another apology in case they were angry. They said it was just over the top sarcasm and assured me they weren't angry but appreciated the apology nonetheless.

So I'm glad that I didn't really upset them, but the way they were just "joking around" really upset me. It took me awhile to stop crying even though they assured me they weren't angry with me. It's probably a mix of the Asperger's and PTSD. I just really don't do well with being yelled at in general because of my abusive father(even someone just raising their or looking angry can be enough to really upset me), and that's what it felt like was happening from my perspective.

My NT sister said that probably would have upset her too and that's not really the sort of thing that people joke about. I just wish I wasn't quite so sensitive and that I wouldn't be affected so strongly by someone that I don't even really know.

Although I often don't show emotions, I definitely do have them, and am often hypersensitive to emotional triggers. I had tons of meltdowns when young, and very slowly got past that, to where I seldom have them anymore, and now it's mostly at home when I am alone. Since I now live alone, I can vent all I want in private, so this allows me to work thru negative feelings without causing problems with other people. Don't know of any cure for this hypersensitivity. Wish I did, though.

It's not true that people with high functioning autism or Asperger's lack empathy or are emotionless. From my personal experience, we have lots of empathy and can be quite emotional. We either express it slightly differently or not at all. For the latter, social anxiety plays a big role. When you're anxious, you often don't display anything in fear that you might be ridiculed.

I personally am the former. Open-minded people would totally be okay with it. But those narrow-minded thick NTs would often view me as a 'creep'. Those people won't get very far in life and probably aren't worth my time anyways.