My Kid is a Damn Nutter

[Undertoad]

i'm gonna listen to the third one when you're all broken in and stuff

[Clodfobble]

Round 2: I talked to Wisconsin NPR this morning. I still talked too fast, but I kept my answers shorter, at least.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Listening to that program you sounded a little more relaxed, more concise. You can probably predict what they'll ask to some extent, but you never know if the interviewer has an axe to grind or will hit you with off the wall questions, like have to stopped beating your children. You did very well.

While I was listening I was thinking, there's a million parents out there who have tales from experience with coping and attempts to "heal" their kids. But gathering and collating that information would be an impossible task. Facing this challenge pre-internet must have been extremely depressing.

[glatt]

listening to it off an on at work in between stuff. You sound good. Interesting stuff.

[xoxoxoBruce]

I've seen food fads, what to eat/avoid, to live longer/lose weight/bigger boners, since forever. Drink wine, don't drink wine, drink coffee, don't drink coffee, eat shit and die. Vegans/vegetarians? I don't care, what ever blows your skirt up, just don't tell me what to eat. PETA, go fuck yourself.

I knew a woman who would be in serious trouble eating food cooked in a pan that had ever had onions cooked in it, but that was very rare... then food allergies burst on the scene. I thought not letting a kid take a peanut butter sandwich to school, or have cookies in his lunch was pretty stupid.

Sugar, saccharin, trans-fat, then gluten became the devil, but when I saw shampoo advertised as gluten free I figured Mad Men were using the current buzz word to get attention. There again, whatever you want, if avoiding or bingeing on something makes you feel better, even if it's psychological, good for you, it doesn't concern me. If it's secretly killing me, it's got to get in a very long line.

I'm just starting to get my head around how seriously these things affect some people, like the Fobblettes. How gluten in shampoo can be a real threat to someone, and what an incredible job Clodfobble has done in finding/drawing the map to Holland.

[Clodfobble]

The thing that makes it tough is it truly didn't used to affect hardly anyone. It's the "we've been eating X for hundreds of years" argument. But both the "stuff" and our bodies today are very different. Bread today doesn't equal bread 100 years ago, and my stomach today doesn't equal my great-grandmother's stomach. It's all fucked up.

[DanaC]

I worked with a girl a few years ago who had to carry an epi pen with her at all times. We also had one at work in the supervisor's drawer just in case. There were a few things she couldn't have, and one of those things was a kind of chilli flavouring used in crisps. One time she went into full on anaphylactic shock after she kissed her boyfriend when he had eaten spicy crisps earlier that day.

@Clod: forgot to come back in here and let you know how awesome that podcast interview was. You sound so confident and at ease, passionate and knowledgable. It was a really engaging interview.

[monster]

How were the first week's Sales, Fob?

[Clodfobble]

I don't get complete numbers, but physical books from US Amazon are at about 75 right now. E-books, brick-and-mortar, and UK sales (I did one radio interview in the UK so far,) I have no idea. And I have no idea if 75 is good for week 1 for an unknown author or not. Mostly I try not to bring up the graph a dozen times a day.

[DanaC]

What radio interview for UK?

[Clodfobble]

Talk Radio Europe, "the largest English-speaking station in Spain." It was 15 min and lightweight--she pulled the quote on the back cover and said "one of my favorite things you said was..." Definitely hadn't read it.

[xoxoxoBruce]

[Clodfobble]

It's okay, she had me on at least. She interviews like four authors every day, she couldn't possibly read them all.

[glatt]

You mention the 1 in 45 statistic in one of those interviews.
I saw it in print today for the first time, so mainstream media is picking it up too. Washington Post, A Section.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Interesting, that says 1 in 45, ages 3 to 17, have it, not 1 in 45 of the children turning 3, have/will have it.
I suppose if it turns out to be genetic based, it can be waiting to be triggered or not yet diagnosed, which seems to be a big problem because of parents in denial and doctors in the dark.

OK, I'm talking out my ass, but I'd never seen the numbers expressed that way.