A Conversation With ... Laura Daly

I was bigger in junior high, and then, in high school, I lost 60 pounds. We thought it was due to dental work that I had done, because I had a lot of braces and retainers for teeth that never came in right. After I graduated from college … I lost another 20 pounds to chronic diarrhea. I went to a cancer doctor, and she asked me to have a bone biopsy, and I did, and it proved nothing. She had also given me the option of going to see a psychologist, but I chose the bone biopsy, because I knew I didn’t need to.

When you received the Carl DiCapo Leadership Award during the 2008 Miss Missouri USA pageant, you credited Dr. William P. Smedley as the person who saved your life. Tell us about him.

He’s in Wilkes-Barre, Penn. He devised the test for chronic gallbladder disease in 1969, known as the upright CPK test. Typically, doctors perform a test, called a hita scan, laying down, but he devised a test (for patients) sitting up, because we don’t eat laying down. In order to see if the gallbladder (is functioning), he tests sitting up, to show the function rate of it. Dr. Smedley has more than 100 cases of girls who have been misdiagnosed as being anorexic. Their (health conditions) are (from) their gallbladders not squeezing correctly. The test that he devised only costs $250.

How is chronic gallbladder disease different from the acute type?

The difference is that you don’t have pain with chronic gallbladder disease. I had gallbladder surgery, and had mine removed. I’m completely fine now, but the chronic condition causes hypoglycemia and hypothyroidism, and those don’t go away.

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Does the chronic condition lead to difficulty gaining weight?

Yes, because the gallbladder stores the bile the liver produces. The bile is needed to break up the fats that we eat, so to gain any sort of weight, you need the bile. My gallbladder (condition) was a birth defect. My gallbladder wasn’t attached to my liver, so when I’d sit up to eat, it would flop over. The only time that I was basically digesting anything was when I’d lay down.

You said at your lowest point, you weighed only 64 pounds. You’ve gained some weight, but is that still difficult post-surgery?

Yes. With hypoglycemia, you basically have to eat whole grains. You can’t eat sugars. You have to back off of it. Hypothyroidism affects metabolism. … You can’t eat the sugar and carbohydrates … that put on the pounds. Dr. Smedley says my weight’s fine now, but with the hypoglycemia, I have to eat every three hours. After years of malabsorption, you have to get your body back like it should be.

Did Dr. Smedley encourage you to write a book?

Dr. Smedley … wanted me to write a book, because I was his worst case, to get the word out that this condition exists, and that it’s not an eating disorder. Chronic gallbladder disease is the basis for (similar) symptoms, and it’s physical, not mental.

So you’re not saying, then, that eating disorders don’t exist?

Right. But I am saying that all physical causes needed to be tested for and ruled out before assuming (reasons for weight loss) are all in someone’s head.

Now that your book is finished, what’s next for you?

I’m just trying to get the message out about this condition, through my Web site (www.chronicgallbladderdisease.com) and through my book, so that people are saved. Proceeds from the book are going to set up a nonprofit. There’s not a name for it yet. I’m also trying to work with Gov. Blunt to pass a bill to mandate that doctors look for physical causes for weight loss, and not just assume that it’s an eating disorder. People contact me … and I know my work’s doing some good, and if I can gain more momentum, more people will be saved.

What else keeps you busy?

I graduated from Missouri State University in 2003. I’m an interior designer, and I have my own business, Daktari. I enjoy bike riding, working out, lifting weights, and I also support other people who have chronic gallbladder disease.

Tell us about your family.

I grew up in Springfield, went to Pershing, Glendale and Missouri State University. My parents, Steve and Marilyn, are here, and my dad owns CopyBiz. I have a brother who’s married and lives in Kansas City.

Interview by Features Editor Maria Hoover. You can e-mail her with suggestions for future installments of this feature at mhoover@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]