European Health Insurance Card EHIC

The European Health Insurance Card is required by all UK citizens when travelling through Europe in the event they require emergency medical treatment.  It replaced the E111 form that used to be required.  The cards are valid for 5 years after which they can be renewed either on-line, by phone (tel 0845 6062030) or at a post office.
If you are thinking of renewing or applying for an EHIC on-line my advice to you is don't unless you like wasting money.  If you renew or apply for your card on-line you will be asked to pay nearly £10 for each card when you can get it done for free over the phone or by going into your post office.  Although the fee is made clear on the web site it is not mentioned that it is free if you use the other methods. 
The downside - The only downside is the time it takes to process the application but it's barely worth worrying about.  If you apply on-line and pay the fee you are told to expect the card to take up to 7 days to arrive.  By phone it is between 7 & 10 days so not a lot of difference.  OK, if you go into a post office then it can take up to 21 days but as long as your application is in the system it doesn't matter if your card doesn't arrive on time for your date of travel.  You are given a phone number you can use should you need to in the event you requiring emergency treatment whilst you are abroad.

PG Tips Decaffeinated - Not Such a Good Choice

Some of you will know that I had to give up caffeine about a year ago because I discovered I was sensitive to it and it was the cause of chronic indigestion. Having given it up I thought everything was fine, no more indigestion and I had found some decaf products I was perfectly happy with. That is until someone mentioned to me that certain methods of decaffeination were actually harmful to health. I took this initially with a pinch of salt but decided to research it for myself anyway. Wikipedia was most helpful on this listing all the various ways caffeine could be extracted from tea and coffee http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decaffeination and true enough there were some very bad ways as well as healthy ways such as the Swiss Water Process.
Next I decided to look at the labels on my products. For instant coffee I use Nescafé Gold Blend Decaf and I was very relieved to see they proudly claim to use the water process for removing the caffeine from their beans. Full marks to Nescafé but I only have one cup a day of that so it wasn't the most important. In the evenings after my main meal I have a cup of ground coffee and for that I use Lavazza Decaffeinated Caffe Espresso. There was nothing on the label about the decaffeination process and nothing on their web site. As there is no e-mail contact information I have had to write to them for details. I'll let you know if they reply.
The most important drink for me however, is tea. I drink 6 mugs of tea a day, two mugs at a time made from 1 bag so 3 tea bags a day. The brand I used was PG Tips Decaf as that had the best flavour, hardly any difference from the non decaf version. Once again there was nothing on the packet to say how the tea was decaffeinated and nothing on their web site. There was a contact form on their web site so I e-mailed them asking about the process. This was the initial response -

Dear Sally,

Thank you for your email.

The solvent extraction process for decaffeination involves the tea leaves being 'washed' in a solvent that removes almost all of the caffeine. The tea leaves are then dried and packed in the ordinary fashion.

If steam treatment is used to remove the caffeine, it is inevitable that some of the other water soluble components will be removed at the same time, notably the water soluble antioxidant flavonoids which contribute to the taste and the leaves' antioxidant activity. We intend that the black tea leaf blend in PG Decaf provides you with a tea infusion that has the taste you would expect to find in cup of standard PG tips tea. Similarly, we intend that PG Decaf continues to give you a brew that is rich in antioxidant flavonoids. While taste is obviously a matter of personal preference, we know we could not make any claim about antioxidant flavonoids if the caffeine had been removed from the leaves using a water based steam treatment.

As I am sure that you will appreciate, the exact process carried out by PG is commercially sensitive but I do hope that this gives you a better understanding of the methodology and our reasoning.

Kind regards,

Zaheed Khan
Careline Advisor

I then e-mailed back asking them which solvent was used in the process and the reply was as follows -

Dear Sally,

Thank you for your continued correspondence.

I can confirm that the the typical solvent of choice for PG tips is Dichloromethane.

If I can be of any further help or assistance, then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards,

Christopher Fortune
Careline Advisor

Dichloromethane is a carcinogen. There are loads of references to it so it seems strange that they would use it to remove caffeine on the grounds it saved the anti-oxidants when at the same time it could potentially cause cancer itself. I am now searching for a new brew and would welcome any suggestions. In the mean time I will revert to normal tea and try steeping the bags for 30 seconds to remove the caffeine myself, throwing that water away and re-steeping the bags to make my tea.

In fairness, at least PG were honest and did reply; I've yet to hear from Lavazza.

References...
http://healthmad.com/nutrition/why-buying-decaffeinated-tea-bags-may-not-be-the-best-choice/
http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/consumer/faq/decaffeinating-coffee.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylene_chloride
http://teahousekuanyin.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/
http://www-teahousekuanyin-comearl-grey-decaffienated-htmlfeinating-tea/
http://imsdd.meb.uni-bonn.de/cancernet/600316.html
http://www.teeccino.com/decaf.aspx
...the list goes on and on.

P.s.
I tried the seeping method as a DIY method for removing caffeine from normal tea at lunchtime today and so far it seems to have worked...no indigestion...yet!

Tuesday 2nd March 2010 - Tetley and Typhoo Decaf Teas
I've been checking around for other brands of decaf tea.  most manufacturers don't say how they process their tea on the packets so it is a matter of contacting the companies concerned and asking them direct.  today I got replies from Tetley and Typho who also both use the same solvent as PG.  Here is their response to my enquiry.

Tetley

Dear Sally

Thanks for your email.  In answer to your query, we decaffeinate our teas using dichloromethane, which is removed by heating the tea leaves to 40°C.  It's checked by our labs and the level of residue left is well below 5 parts per million, the level required by legislation. We believe this method delivers the best tasting decaf blend.

Dichloromethane is still widely used in the food and drink industry because it can so effectively be removed from products due to its volatile nature. Product safety and consumer concerns are a top priority for us at Tetley and we regularly review our methods and look at alternative processes of decaffeination.

Kind regards

Sue
Tetley GB Consumer Services

Typhoo

Dear Ms Turner

I am writing in response to your query regarding the decaffeination method that we use.

Typhoo currently use the widely used method known as Methylene Chloride for decaffeination. During this process the tea is 'washed' with Methylene Chloride, which is highly selective for caffeine, and is therefore thought to give a better flavoured decaffeinated tea than by using some other methods.

The caffeine is dissolved into the solvent. Tea is treated to remove the solvent by gentle heating - Methylene Chloride has a low boiling point of approximately 41 C and is therefore evaporated off and collected separately. Caffeine can be recovered from this solvent and purified for re-use.

All teas are made with hot water (70 C-80 C or more), ensuring that any minute traces of solvent remaining in the decaffeinated tea (normally less than 1 mg per kg of dry tea) will evaporate before the tea is drunk.

Recent research has shown that the healthy antioxidants in tea are not removed during decaffeination using Methylene Chloride.

Kind Regards

Lynsey
Consumer Relations Advisor

N.B. Dichloromethane and Methylene Chloride are the same thing. The references listed above say that this chemical cannot be fully removed from the tea and so will be ingested.

On the plus side I have discovered, but not yet tried, a decaffeinated tea by Taylors of Harrogate who claim their tea is decaffeinated using CO2, perfectly harmless.
I am currently trying Clipper Organic Decaf Tea Having e-mailed them asking about their decaffeination process they informed me they use CO2 aswell. Here is their reply.

Thank you for contacting clipper

It was good to hear that you are interested in our Decaffeinated products and would like to know which process we use to decaffeinate them.

The information is as follows:

How is Clipper tea and coffee decaffeinated?

There are essentially two types of decaffeination process: one that uses solvents such as ethyl acetate, and one that uses harmless carbon dioxide gas and water.  All Clipper decaffeinated products use natural spring water and supercritical Carbon Dioxide (CO2) - the same natural gas used to add bubbles to mineral water, but pressurised.  This method does not use any harmful chemicals and is approved by the Soil Association.

Thank you for contacting us; if you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us again

Kind regards
Penny Knapman
Customer Relations
Tel: 01308 863344
Fax: 01308 861249

Thursday 4th March - Response from Lavazza Coffee

Lavazza got back to me today to say they use the CO2 method of decaffeination. This response was via a scanned document so instead of attaching the e-mail I've inserted an image of the document sent to me here. Just click on it to see it large.

Bad day

I had a bad day again yesterday. seems I'm not quite over the caffeine withdrawal after all. I had a headache all day despite regularly taking paracetamol to combat it at the advice of my GP. They made no difference. To be honest, it wasn't a thumper but I was concious of it and found it hard to concentrate on anything much because of it. What if really hate about such niggling headaches is how they seem to affect my whole day. I couldn't find anything to smile about and everything seemed to go wrong. OK, I know that's just a warped perception of the day building negative energy and causing me to look at the black side of things rather than the seeing the positives but knowing that didn't help.
I could have just grabbed a cup of normal tea of coffee and cleared my head but I was determined to stretch it out longer. I knew I had gone 72 hours before between caffeine fixes so I needed to make sure I went at least that this time. the trouble was that would mean the next time I could have a caffeine fix would be my after diner coffee and that would likely cause me another sleepless night. There was nothing for it but to stick it out until this morning making it a good 80 hours between 'fixes'. As I woke this morning my headache was nestled in well behind my left eye and throbbed at me as I sat up. No matter, I was going to have two mugs of normal tea with my breakfast...Yes!
Breakfast was 2 hours ago now and my headache is 90% better. Not totally banished I have to say but I'm sure it will be soon. At least I feel more positive today which is good because I have a lot of work to get through.

Downside of being caffeine free

Yes, that's right, I can now claim to have beaten the caffeine thing. Once I got the hang of it, it was all quite painless really. The downside is that last night I made a cup of filter coffee after my dinner as usual only I accidentally used the wrong coffee. Normal coffee rather then decaf. I didn't think much of it at the time as one cup of caffeinated coffee wasn't going to kill me and probably wouldn't make much difference to my digestion. It was not until I went to bed that I realised the difference. It took me at least 3 hours before I finally went to sleep. I couldn't believe it, I'd never had problems sleeping after coffee before and always thought people who said coffee kept them awake were exaggerating but there I was wide awake and concious that I was going to have to get up in another 4 hours. Best not make that mistake again.

Sciatica & Caffeine Withdrawal

OK, enough was enough, I still have the 'Sciatica' or what ever it is so I went to see my GP this morning. He didn't know what was causing it but has ordered some x-rays but he thinks what ever it is I've had it a long time but the pain has been masked by the caffeine I'd been taking in my tea as caffeine is an analgesic. This is why it has become a problem now I'm almost totally decaf. I'm beginning to feel like I'm falling apart.
It will be over a week before I can get the x-rays done and then another 3 weeks before my GP has the results. Hey Ho!

Addendum

I had to have a normal cup of tea this morning as I woke up with the beginnings of another headache. Still, that's OK because it was 45 hours since I last had a caffeinated drink. I must be almost there.

Caffeine...who needs it?

We spent the weekend in the New Forest visiting my mother-in-law. I managed on just normal tea on Saturday morning and a normal coffee Sunday mid morning when the first signs of a headache returned. Apart from sciatica that came on Friday night and which I don't think is connected, I've not had any other adverse effects. I have not had any caffeinated drinks since the coffee on Sunday so I think I've probably got this sorted now although I did fall asleep after lunch today. I simply could not keep my eyes open. My indigestion has improved since being off the caffeine so now I just need to get rid of this sciatica!

A little of what you fancy

07.55 am
Didn't sleep that well last night. Kept waking up with my headache. Not only that but now my right eye aches as well and both feel sore. I'm now having a normal cup of tea in the hope that the caffeine in it will abate my headache and allow me to get on with my day. I'll be back on the decaf for the rest of the day or at least until my headache returns, assuming it goes away in the first place. I can feel my stomach objecting to the caffeine already but if it is going to be a battle between my head and my stomach I'm afraid my head wins, at least temporarily.
Mind you, I have to say, this normal tea that I have enjoyed all my life, suddenly doesn't taste that nice any more.

09.20am
OK my headache has gone, my eyes are no longer sore and I generally feel fine. Even my indigestion only got to a 'low simmer' for the present. All-in-all the trade off was fine. I'm sure if I can keep off the caffeine for the rest of the day I should be able to keep both my head and stomach happy. Fingers crossed :-)

10.50pm
Well I got through the day without any more caffeine. My indigestion kept niggling me but nothing too serious. I do have very achy joints and my head ache is just beginning to return but all that can wait until the morning when I may have another cup of proper tea. If I can leave it a little longer still I will as it will likely increase my indigestion to a more uncomfortable level if I do.

Caffeine withdrawal is no fun

I was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia a few months back which had been causing me constant indigestion. Since then I've been taking some medication to help but little had changed, I still had indigestion. On returning to my GP I was told I would need to give up caffeine. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a coffee addict but I do like tea and have about 6 mugs of it a day. No worries, I thought, I'll buy decaf. That was two days ago and today I have had a headache all day despite taking analgesics to get rid of it. Not only that but I feel listless but restless as well. Foggy in the head (I know there are some that would think that was normal) and blurry eyed. I can't concentrate on anything much and I'm either cold or flushed.
I assumed it was due to the medication I was on being increased but then, as I was about to make myself an after dinner coffee I suddenly realised it was the lack of caffeine that was the most likely culprit.
I Googled caffeine withdrawal and to my dismay discovered these symptoms can last a week of more. I don't know why my GP didn't warn me of this. I'm now thinking that going cold turkey on caffeine is not the right way to go about this and think I will allow myself one cup of proper tea tomorrow even if it does result in the return of my indigestion which, btw, has improved.