Chronic Illness | Hank Green & Kati Morton

I'm Kati Morton, a licensed therapist making Mental Health videos!
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If you or someone you know is in immediate danger, please call a local emergency telephone number or go immediately to the nearest emergency room.

[kiya]

If even someone as successful and hard-working as Hank Green couldn't afford health insurance, then we have a serious problem.

[AnnikaVictoria]

Hank is one of the people who have inspired me to talk openly about my own chronic illness (a rare vasculitis called Takayasu's arteritis) without feeling ashamed or embarrassed about it. It's so important to know that you're not alone when you have a chronic illness and I just have to say THANK GOD for the Internet for existing. Without this community of fellow "spoonies" (what we call ourselves) I would feel completely isolated and trapped in my own body.

[anothernicoleborninthes]

The part about his wife and guilt is spot on

[cLorraine]

A friend said to me " you grieve for the loss of the expectation of normal, and then 'reset' and set a NEW normal." It has helped me cope with the depression which comes from living with chronic pain

[sayswice]

One of my main issues with chronic illness is that doctors don't really know exactly what is wrong with me. So if you can't get a diagnosis, you can't get treatment. So as the illness gets worse, you have to accept some things as your new normal and fight some things, etc. the grieving process is never fully played out and I'm constantly kind of between acceptance and depression.

[Chouetterargentee]

Sometimes it feels like I can never have a meaningful life or a relationship or contribute to society in any valuable way, and on those days the thing that helps me the most is to remember that Hank Green does it. I'm so, so glad that he has been open about his illness. It makes a world of difference to me to know that someone I admire—and someone other people admire—has a condition similar to mine.

[doggierat]

Kati I could so tell that you were going into full blown therapist mode when talking to Hank haha! You got that listening face on!

[katgolightly]

Hank Green just had his first therapy session- and he doesn't even know it!

[IdaBrun]

Theres always so much guilt when you're chronically ill. Im comforted by the fact that even Hank Green feels inadequate from the weight of his illness, but also sad that such a great man suffers

[thelonelydirector]

My boss is the best boss who has ever bossed.

[linguaphilly]

Woop woop, two of my favorite youtubers!

[mineola_]

I can so relate to the guilt about appreciating people being kind to you because your illness. And also the always needing proof that people love you. Amazing collaboration, thanks, Hank for opening up, and thanks Katie for listening and asking the right questions!

[AngeliaChanel]

my 13 yr old daughter was just diagnosed with Crohn's and is having a rough time.
Thank you both for this video, it is much appreciated :)

[demianhaki]

a) Awesome collab b) It's so helpful to hear Hank talk about this, especially in terms of dealing with shame related to bodily issues. c) The topic of chronic illness is a great example of avoiding overly positive psychological self-talk. Much more authentic to accept that some situations in life are less ideal than others and to accept that rather than trying to twist it into telling yourself that everything's awesome.

[lanat]

You should have John come on! That'd be awesome. OCD representation and the interesting contrasts and similarities between dealing with a chronic physical disability and a chronic mental disability. :) Love the video as usual!

[IvyWinter]

This is WONDERFUL. I have IBS-D, for 4 years, and it is frustrating, and depressing, and like he said, makes you feel like you have no control. but i loved what he said about accepting the "new normal" and just grieving the old normal. Something I think I still need to do. But man, I felt every single word to a T.

[Ikine]

Oh my goodness, I can so relate to that feeling of thinking that if I do what I do with my illness, I could be doing so much more without it.

[silverbroom]

Thanks to both of you for doing a video like this! As someone who also deals with some pretty debilitating chronic illnesses (POTS, ME/CFS, endometriosis, etc.) on top of complex PTSD, I would love to see more discussions like this about the ways in which it affects people's lives. Chronic illness can be very isolating, and it's so nice when the public at large gets to become more aware. 💕

[ncburton]

What can make it even harder to cope with a chronic illness is when people seem to act like your not trying to get treatment or your just using the chronic illness card to get special treatment. So they start giving you all this unsolicited advice about what you can do to 'fix' your condition. And when you say you've either tried all that or that it wouldn't be effective they act like you're just not trying hard enough, it makes you feel like complete crap. I try not to take what other people think to heart. If growing up dealing with bullies taught me anything it was that, but at the same time no matter how hard you try a little bit of that tends to seep in. And it's worse when you're in a setting like a support group and you have people acting like that. It wasn't a support group for chronic illness, it was a support group for another issue but still when you're in what you consider to be a safe space with people you feel you can trust it really hurts when someone starts treating you like you're just a hypochondriac. Or going to the doctor and being treated like a med seeker. I literally had a doctor tell me that she couldn't give me anymore narcotics when I told her that I was still having issues with pain. I said absolutely NOTHING about wanting more pain medication. I merely said I was having more issues with pain. It wasn't long after that I had to change doctors because it had become very obvious that I couldn't share anything with that doctor. If it wasn't her thinking I had med seeking behavior it was the fact that I couldn't talk to her at all about medical aspects of my gender transition. She knew about it but didn't listen at all if I tried to bring it up. Until a friend of mine told me about a trans friendly doctor that she went to that actually accepted my insurance I was really depressed because it felt as if I'd never have any of my medical needs addressed. So thankfully now I have a doctor who listens and it makes a world of difference. It's just the people who think that they're 'helping' by giving unsolicited advice that can really make you feel frustrated or shameful. And it's stupid to feel the shame but it happens anyway...

[chiquitapaulita]

Yay! I go back and watch videos of Hank talking about his illness a lot, because it helps me think positively about my condition when I struggle with flare ups and fatigue. I think part of that is knowing he is a productive person, while still dealing with this stuff helps me see that that's possible. So thanks Hank!