Chocolate Intolerance?

[katrinacara]

I've been a celiac for about two years now. six months ago, I became really sick and eventually found out that it was casein intolerance. But even when I was gluten and casein free I still felt sick occasionally. I checked EVERYTHING for gluten and casein cross contamination, which can be a grueling process. I even contacted manufacturers to see if the equipment was ever used for foods with casein. During my search for answers I remember eating a casein free chocolate bar. The company stated on the label "Equipment 100% free of gluten and casein". About two hours later I was SOOOO sick, more sick than if I drank a vat of milk with gluten in it. So I decided to stop eating all chocolate, which was a very sad day for me. I felt great again. Then a few weeks later against my better judgement I decided that it was worth the pain. I ate a soy dream candy bar. I waited...and waited...and waited some more and I was fine. I thought I was cured, YAY! So I went out and bought all this chocolate stuff...NOPE! I had enjoy life chocolate chips and they made me a little sick and then I had chocolate rice dream milk and that made me REALLY sick again. I went back to the soy dream chocolate bar and I was fine. Weird! I've been checking all the different ingredients in the chocolate and they all seem to be the same. The only thing I can think of it how the cocoa is processed, which isn't always indicated on the label. But I know when I had hershey's cocoa (which is casein free) I got sick and it's processed with alkali. Is it possible that I could be having a reaction to alkali?

I'm having a chocolate crisis...and I girl needs her chocolate!!! HELP!

[Juliebove]

It could also have to do with how dark the chocolate is. Although I would think any dairy free chocolate would be dark.

I love dark chocolate, but it messes with my GERD so badly I can't eat even a tiny crumb of it.

Oddly, milk chocolate doesn't cause this reaction in me. Nor do things like Tootsie Rolls.

I was talking to my friend about this who also suffers from GERD. She said she finds she can eat chocolate early in the day but not later in the day because that causes problems.

[sb2178]

isn't rice dream processed with barley in some hidden way?