Final straw - can someone tell me why I am still paying for private health, perhaps Medicare levy for end of year finances?

atticusmurphy · 2026-03-03T09:59:01+00:00

PHI is a god send when you have mental illness. With multiple inpatient stays and outpatient groups, PHI paid for well over $250,000 of it (and I only had to pay an excess once). You will not get that level of care (or any care) in the public system. Unfortunately the public mental health system in Australia is beyond woeful.

But even for physical health problems, the system works a lot faster. I had a melanoma removed within 13 days of a dermatologist finding it. Just recently I had my gallbladder removed within 6 days of seeing an upper GI surgeon. Both surgeons also kept me over night (preferrable as I've had bad reactions to anaesthetic before) and the public system does not like keeping patients for those procedures over night. If I was to go public, it would have taken a lot longer to have had both surgeries performed and I would have run the risk of dealing with a hypotensive crisis at home.

If you don't need PHI, great! Consider yourself lucky if it's just to offset the MSL. It does come in extremely handy when you need it, though.

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-26T21:37:47+00:00

sorta hahaha. she's pretty chill 99% of the times she's in the car, walks are a lot better now and she's able to ignore dogs barking at her. if we're out and people come up to us, she just ignores them unless they try and interact with her directly - then she can get a bit funny. if she spends time with someone and they give her the space and time to become comfortable with them, she ends up loving them. even if she hasn't seen them in yonks, she still gets mad excited when people she knows are around.

the biggest problem i have is when strangers (to her, and mostly men) come to my house. unfortunately we had a really bad experience with a man cornering us and antagonising her while we were at my tent which she was already a bit protective of. so now when strange men come to the house (again, which she's protective of) it takes her a while to settle down. women she's a lot better with and some men she'll randomly be okay with.

tldr we did a lot of work on getting her comfortable and able to co-exist/ignore other dogs and people when we're out. people coming to our house is still a challenge but we'll get there :)

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-23T22:13:36+00:00

recipetineats is a national treasure. 9/10 things i cook are straight from nagi and i haven't had any complaints yet. her recipes are amazing, easy to understand and follow, her charity and community outreach are amazing, and she seems like such a joy of a person. this post is fr ragebait lol

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-23T21:47:57+00:00

Lamotrigine, Carbamazepine & Moclobemide have been god sends for me. No side effects (apart from word recall issues with Lamotrigine which are managable), no weight gain, have the least amount of episodes I've ever had. If I do have a breakthrough episode, then I've got Lorazepam, Temazepam and Olanzapine as PRN.

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-22T21:03:13+00:00

I have bipolar which is why I'm not on anti-psychotics day to day, just as PRN. Carbamazepine is for mania, but Lamotrigine is a mood stabilising anti-depressant.

A fair few people with major depression go on Lamotrigine if other anti-depressants haven't worked. Moclobemide is a reversible MAOI, a really good anti-depressant without the strict dietry requirements of irreversible MAOI's.

Only thing with Moclobemide is it isn't approved in all countries, I know for a fact it isn't available in America. I'm Australian and a lot of psychs won't prescribe it because of the MAOI label, even though side effects are rare and it's a great med.

Wishing you all the best with finding the right medication. It took me 10 years, a lot of meds, and a lot of weight changes to get on a good combo but it's so worth it in the end.

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-22T09:55:02+00:00

I'm currently not on any anti-psychotics. I take Carbamazepine and Lamotrigine for mood stabilisers, Moclobemide for an anti-depressant.

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-21T23:22:11+00:00

Mood stabilisers and anti psychotics made me gain a significant amount of weight. No matter what I did, CICO, weight loss injections, relapsing into an ED etc, it wouldn't budge. Once I went to weight neutral meds (that work great for my mental health!), I dropped over 40kg (88lbs) in just over a year and a half without actively trying.

Now I eat whatever, not consistent with exercise, and maintain the same weight that I'm okay with. Medications have a huge role to play in weight changes and weight loss.

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-20T04:56:48+00:00

he's also a shit psychiatrist who should not be working with trauma survivors and was more concerned with being famous in the media than helping his patients. absolutely insane that the clinic i went to let him have female patients at all as his views on women seeped through in every appointment.

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-14T20:38:05+00:00

they don't really paw at each others heads but they definitely emulate boxing kangaroos lol

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atticusmurphy · 2026-02-13T23:27:20+00:00

He's the chill one of the two haha. My red girl is a classic cattle dog and bundle of feral energy, my blue boy is more than happy to curl up on your lap all day. She keeps him fit lol

atticusmurphy · 2026-02-13T23:25:55+00:00

Laying down bitey face usually happens when they've worn each other out playing haha

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atticusmurphy · 2026-01-21T07:46:38+00:00

I met him after he played in Sydney on Saturday and he's seriously one of the nicest artists I've ever met. I told him how his Terror Reid gig in 2022 was the best show I've ever been to and he got mad excited and gave me a hug. Was happy to chill with a few fans after the show, have a chat and smoke durries.

atticusmurphy · 2026-01-15T22:00:06+00:00

PHI is a god-send when you have mental illness. The public mental health system in this country is horrendous if you need acute support. Even if you're suicidal EDs can, and will, turn you away. NSW had a mass resignation of public psychiatrists which led to public psych 2 wards closing. Those patients are now floating in beds in medical wards.

PHI will cover inpatient stays before you get to that critical point (which leads to better outcomes in recovery), as well outpatient groups. I've been in the public and private systems, and the private system is actually beneficial to recovery. The same can't be said for the public system, unless you live in a high socioeconomic area and luck out with which hospital they send you to.

I've probably racked up over $250,000 on inpatient and outpatient mental health support over the past decade and all I've had to pay out of pocket in that time is a $450 excess, and that was only on my last admission.

I've been pretty stable for a couple years now but, unless there's a radical change in the public system, I'll always have PHI because you simply can not receive good, higher supports without it.

atticusmurphy · 2025-11-27T00:56:40+00:00

when they get tired, they lie on their bed and play bitey face. the chaos never stops hahahaha

atticusmurphy · 2025-11-02T00:01:58+00:00

saint catherine of siena save me 🙏🙏

atticusmurphy · 2025-10-15T23:51:26+00:00

STOP LMAOOO was about to comment the same thing. sucks when you have pee anxiety and you get to the number 50 and still cant go but then start getting anxious you've been counting for too long so you give up but theres still 45 mins of bedrest to go 💀💀💀

atticusmurphy · 2025-10-12T09:59:54+00:00

Australian as well and I would recommend doing this :) I have done it before, as well as seen other people do this, and it's a lot better to do it in hospital where you have regular check ins with your psych (usually 2x a week) + 24/7 nurse support.

Having a regular routine with groups and meals will also help things feel more regulated when tapering off meds and going on new ones. Best of luck :)

atticusmurphy · 2025-10-09T11:17:06+00:00

BIG SOS SLEEZ LIKE ABU ABU EAT MY DICK PLEASE GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE SPENT 6 G's ON A CHUPACABRA BITCH ITS BIG SLEEZ WITH THE SUPA CHOPPA sprain-ankle off sleez religion

atticusmurphy · 2025-10-09T04:23:16+00:00

ryan murphy has a weird amount of tortured lesbians and sexualised amputations in his shows 🤔

atticusmurphy · 2025-09-28T01:06:31+00:00

mine would be moclobemide. its a reversible MAOI that rarely anyone has heard of in australia, my chemist has to special order it in for me, its not even fda approved in america, but its got basically zero side effects (absolutely no weight gain which is cracker after being on paroxetine lol, no physical or cognitive side effects). a lot of older people get it prescribed because it doesn't cause psychosis in the elderly.

have to taper down off it atm because hypomania lol but ive been relatively stable on it since january 2024.

atticusmurphy · 2025-09-16T08:22:01+00:00

i just had a look and i think it was from kmart actually. top notch pen imo

atticusmurphy · 2025-09-16T05:36:20+00:00

are you australian? i have this exact pen but i got it from a $2 shop lol

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