Advice needed please

[marionofnorwich]

I am on a slow taper (currently between 4 and 3.5mg,) and have woken up with this cold bug that has been doing the rounds. I have to get up and get my tax return done so can't really stay in bed though can stay home and warm. I had the flu jab in October Question is, should I increase my pred for a few days? Ie Sick Day Rules or is that over reacting?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

If its just a cold then paracetamol and plenty of TLC might be enough… SDR are usually recommended when feel unable to get out of bed. ._

[marionofnorwich in reply to DorsetLady]

Ok great thank you. Just my whole system went scatty when I had Covid a couple of years ago when I didn't know about Sick Day Rules so am a bit cautious now! Lemsip it is then

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Personally I think SDRs for a cold is overreacting - but depends on how unwell you really turn out to be. Covid 2 years ago and an ordinary cold now is a bit different.

Given the task in hand, I wouldn't use Lemsip but a more traditional remedy: a whisky toddy with lemon which might make the job less awful 😉

[marionofnorwich]

yes, good idea. I thought that maybe 8.30am was a bit early for whisky but I am never averse! Often with some ginger to spice it up. Will stick on 4mg for a few days rather than 3.5 I think, plus toddies as required!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to marionofnorwich]

8.30am is too early for HMRC ... Anytime is if it comes to that!!!

[Lookingforideas in reply to PMRpro]

Tell Me about it. I’m in the study dawn till after midnight at the moment stil collating all my various piles of admin & receipts to try to get the spreadsheets done and into a format for the dreaded return - got pto do several schedules so a total nightmare. And if I take the early am whisky advice I think that might just make me lose yet another day 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ I’m currently doing dry January anyway so I’m on the camomile tea right now Definitely not as nice as the whisky or brandy option to be sure 🤪.

[marionofnorwich in reply to Lookingforideas]

Well I took the advice on the hot toddy and feeling better today though suspect a cough might yet descend on me but fingers crossed. At least I get to sleep in the spare room where I can watch the Pottery Throwdown on my Ipad i peace.

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lookingforideas]

I happily pay an accountant to take the strain!! It is now relatively simple since we both retired and now it is only me - wasn't with 2 countries to cover and both working freelance.

[marionofnorwich in reply to PMRpro]

It is really the bookkeeping I think which is a pain and takes time. My accountant friend helps me to submit it once I have all the figures together. It is easier now that we can do it as a lump sum but I have lots (hundreds) of small transactions and expenses and if I don't add up the expenses I have to pay quite a lot. I think it is just that my system could be more efficient (with hindsight) but too disruptive to change, and with an ADHD-style mindset, I am not a great at attention to detail!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to marionofnorwich]

Probably not in the same league but my accountant's staff here don't turn a hair at being handed a bag of a LOT of receipts collected through the year! The UK stuff is simpler now the house is let through an agent rather than doing it ourselves.

[Lookingforideas in reply to PMRpro]

Yep, doing it yourself can be a world of pain but it’s the accounts - and all the different bits and pieces and currency exchanges etc 😱 once that’s done (EVENTUALLY) actually getting it into the return is the relatively simple part - especially as by that point you feel you’re on the home straight 😊

[Lookingforideas in reply to PMRpro]

Yep I’ve got Spain and uk to cover with a long term rental and a holiday rental in spain which are in different schedules in my uk return and are split between my husbands an my returns , plus a rental in the uk - it’s doing the accounts for the different countries & different tax year dates as well as constantly converting the currencies too on the HMRC acceptable rates for the different periods as well - not rocket science but all really fiddly because split into different sections & very time consuming when I’m constantly being interrupted and losing the place 🙄. I can’t even claim the expenses in Spain against the income since Brexit🥴, but because I have to declare all that in the uk too, I still have to do all the expenses accounts anyway. And claim the tax paid in Spain as an expense in the uk 🤦‍♀️. It’s a nightmare - but I’ve always done it and it’s a bit late to change now as I intend getting rid of the Spanish rentals soon anyway as it’s not worth it anymore 🙄. If I was organised it wouldn’t be so bad but I’m hardly here these days so everything gets tossed in a filing cabinet and dragged out in a last minute panic. I’m the biggest procrastinator on the planet but I’m heading into the study now… I may be some time 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[marionofnorwich in reply to Lookingforideas]

I hear you!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lookingforideas]

Yes, I have the UK and Italy though no income here in Italy other than pensions now. I suspected I paid more tax than I should here - and discovered a few weeks ago that as far as the Italian pension authorities are concerned, for the last 3 years they have paid me 230 euros a month! This emerged when I got a letter demanding nearly 800 overpaid pension in 2022 be paid back. As I said when I went to try to get it sorted out, I'd be happy to pay it back - had I ever received it!!! My Italian pension is so small that it is paid as a single instalment once a year, probably enough for a pizza for one. Not even sure it'd pay for wine with it. February 2022 I received 150 euros - which seemed a lot but I now a widow get some of OH's pension as well. Now I realise there have been no more payments - neither once a year nor monthly!! But the pensions office tell my accountant I get all that 230 euros a month. And I have been paying tax on that!!!

[Lookingforideas in reply to PMRpro]

😱😱😱. They sound even worse than Spain - although the uk is as bad in other ways too🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Lookingforideas]

At least I can talk to someone here - even local Italian speakers can't cope with the forms so there are agencies to help!!

[piglette]

My father recommended blackcurrent juice, whisky and Benedictine topped up with hot water. I discovered if you put it in the microwave you can cut out the hot water! You will forget your cold bug, in fact you will forget everything!

[marionofnorwich]

Hahaha! Including my tax return deadline? I wish I could...

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to marionofnorwich]

That was the idea ... Mine was done months ago but I have to screw up the courage to pay the bill ... It's better in my account earning interest ...

[Lookingforideas in reply to PMRpro]

Every year I vow to start early - and every year I fail miserably 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️.

[Phoebenooby]

I started with what I thought was a cold on 27th Dec….went through a whole range of symptoms, temp, aches, sore throat , runny nose, blocked nose and finally over 2 weeks late an awful mucus cough….. I didn’t to SDR but doubled my dose yesterday and will for a few more days in a bid to knock it in the head! On another post someone no longer on pred was prescribed a few days of 30mg pred for a mucus cough that ended up as a chest infection,,,,