If you think you could have catatonia, it is extremely important to get help as soon as possible. The sooner you get help, the more likely it is that you will make a good recovery. Don't wait.
The Catatonia Foundation has some advice about "medical advocacy," which means asking for help from doctors, and sometimes standing up for yourself to make sure that you are being understood. The advice at this website comes from a doctor, which is very helpful. However, this advice is mostly directed at parents, not at autistic people themselves. It's always best if you have someone else, like parents, to help advocate for you and communicate with doctors, but not all autistic people have family to play this role. Here, we will talk a little bit about how to get help yourself, especially if you don't have family helping you.
It's ok to start by talking to a doctor or medical provider that you already know and trust, even if you are not sure that they are the most expert or specialized person in catatonia. You can tell them about your concerns. If you are worried that you won't be able to communicate your worries, you could download the excellent 2-page UW LEND document about catatonia, and send it to them. Even better, if you are able, you could print it and circle or star the symptoms that you have been experiencing, or add your own handwritten comments, if you like. You could also download the Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale, and fill it out. If you take this second approach, you might want to add some notes explaining how your current symptoms are different from your autistic symptoms at baseline ("at baseline" means "when you don't have catatonia, just regular autism"). If you don't understand the descriptions of some of the symptoms on this Bush-Francis Quesionnaire, you can find lots of helpful videos on YouTube. Perhaps more importantly, when you are filling out initial patient questionnaires like these, you don't have to fill out every question or get every answer exactly right from a medical perspective. Later on, if needed, a doctor will fill out the form again with one hundred percent accuracy, using their medical expertise. Your goal is just to use the form or questionnaire as a rough guide, in order to help you communicate some of your questions and concerns. Forms can be very confusing and frustrating when you feel like you have to get them one hundred percent perfect, but in this case, perfection is not your goal. Just to use the forms to help you communicate the things that you do know, or that you have noticed, and don't worry about the rest. Leave things blank if you want.
Some guides to medical advocacy point out that is really, really helpful to have some good facts and data to share with your doctors, if you are able. For instance, if you can keep a journal of your possible catatonia symptoms, recording the times and places that you had the symptoms, and what might have brought them on, this journal could be very helpful. (The UW LEND handout talks more about how to keep this kind of record). Another helpful thing to do, if you can, is to wear a fitness monitor like a FitBit or a Garmin watch or an Apple watch. Not everybody has access to these things, of course. But if you do, then wearing a monitor like these can help you to record your biodata (things like your heart rate, etc.), without your having to remember all those things yourself. Generally, the more of a record you can keep, the better. But if you don't feel able to keep a good record, don't worry or panic. Just get help as soon as you can. The doctors will have other ways to assess you for catatonia, even if you don't have a record.
If you want to look for a doctor instead of going to the hospital, you can use the Internet to look for a psychiatrist in your area.
If you can't find a doctor who will examine you for catatonia, one possible strategy is to look for a university hospital near you. Sometimes university doctors have had a chance to do lots of reading on unusual conditions, like autistic catatonia. A doctor at a university hospital might be able to assess you for catatonia and see whether you are likely to be experiencing it or not, and do the necessary follow-up tests.
If you don't feel like you have a doctor or provider that you already know and trust, it's ok to call 911 or go to a hospital ER by yourself. But if you are having any kind of breathing trouble, you should get medical help right away, even if you have to walk right into the ER or call an ambulance.