Hi all, I'm back to share an update. I do not have any definitive explanation for what happened, but...
As I mentioned 2 or 3 weeks ago, I had been on the dextrose protocol for approximately 5 weeks (was at 5 tbsp 3x a day... so in the ballpark of 600 calories a day of dextrose). I went off of it cold turkey.
I went off it because I was going to be doing some traveling, and I didn't want to be a bother to my in-laws or family members I'd be staying with, bringing in large amounts of white powder to their kitchens. I'm doing it more experimentally as opposed to having major symptoms I'm looking to resolve anyway, so I thought it would be a good chance to ensure I wasn't developing a dependency on dextrose.
We left on a Friday, and I quit dextrose cold turkey 2 or 3 days before that (so Tuesday or Wednesday). Nothing notable to report. But then that Sunday night, I started getting pink eye and got sick generally. I stayed sick for several days while the eye discharge ran its course; symptoms were feeling cold, feverish, sore throat, tired, weak, stuffy, coughy, phlegmy. (Fortunately I was feeling much better to the point that we were able to attend an event the following Saturday and have a great time and my eyes were doing better by then-- so it's not that it was debilitating.) Almost two weeks after the initial pinkeye symptom, I still don't feel quite 100% (but by now I am very very close).
Anyway, it's the longest bout of illness I've had in years. Nothing too horrible, just the normal "sick" stuff, the body cleaning gunk out. Others in the house were also under the weather a bit (I seemed to fare worse than the others in the house).
I have no idea if the dextrose had any role in it, but it was interesting and I thought I'd log it here.
Long story short: Stopped dextrose therapy on a Wednesday, felt fine for a few days. Then got sick Sunday night and stayed that way for a while, a little sicker a little longer than typical for me. But I could theorize 1000 reasons for why it happened, and I have no clue if it had anything at all to do with dextrose. Back home now, I'll probably restart dextrose protocol in a few days.