That's great that you have someone else to do cleansing with - I'm jealous ;)
I bought organic grade b maple syrup about 2 months online to do my cleanse with, and it tasted fine at the time. The other day I made pancakes for my family, and put the jug on the table, and my daughter told me it smelled weird, so I smelled it and it was definitely "off". I poured some out and it had mold on it! After only 2 months...really weird. I'm wondering if your maple syrup was bad, or just about to go bad, because your reaction was so strong. You're probably going to be much happier on a nice, tasty juice fast. Good luck with whatever you try ;)