It was time to pull out the tape measure earlier this week. While it was not really necessary, my clothes are getting looser, it's always nice to get official validation of just how much.

Another 12cm (4.7") gone this month. My arms are finally toning up (wahoo!) and my hips and thighs are still on the downward slide (yay!).

But the shrinkage news is not all good.

How can this be so, you ask. Isn't all shrinkage good shrinkage?

My mum visited this morning and said, "You've lost weight!" But not in that perky, congratulatory tone, more like in that very worried that you're seriously ill tone.

I can slide my jeans off my hips without undoing them. The jeans I bought about a month or so ago.

I'm dehydrated, exhausted, suffering dizzy spells and I look completely wasted.

I've dropped around 3kg (6.6lb) in a week.

No, it's not my diet, I'm apparently suffering from one of the less common side effects of my anti-depressant.

Most of them are supposed to give you constipation.

I wish.

No, after pretty constant wind, gut pain and diarrhoea for a week, I went to the doctor. The doctor, after taking a stool sample (on the count of three... EWWWWWW!), cheerfully informed me that there was nothing wrong with me and told me to drink peppermint tea to settle my belly.

Another week of the same symptoms and, after attempts to self-medicate with things like Immodium, I went to a local pharmacist for some advice.

She had something I could take but she needed to know what I was already on. I told her I was taking Edronax.

A common side effect of which is, apparently, diarrhoea.

Oh joy.

You'd think the doctor might have mentioned that, non?

So yes, Virginia, there is bad shrinkage. My focus now is to get off these meds and to get my system back in order. I'm taking electrolyte and other supplements because I'm clearly getting no nutritional value from anything I'm eating and I'm on hardcore drugs to slow my gut down.

I'm also seeing a naturopath in conjunction with my therapist to find natural ways to manage my depression, because the anti-depressants seem to be doing more harm than good.

I've decided that all I want for Christmas is a couple of weeks of good health. You know, to just feel well and healthy for a while, because it seems that each week I'm hit with something new and exciting.

My next weigh in can probably be taken with a grain of salt.

Oy vey.

I hope, for your sakes and mine, that my next couple of posts are mundane, boring and not involve any sort of medical professional, whatsoever.

Finally, I received a response to one of my old posts about muscle vs. fat.

While I replied with a bit of a scathing email, I just had to respond here.

Yes, Julie, you're very clever. So clever in fact, that you COMPLETELY missed the point of my original post.

If you had been paying attention, you would realise that my post was concerned with trying to convince women of the value of gaining muscle while they are losing weight. It is people like you who bleat, "But muscle weighs more than fat!" who frighten other women into not doing weight work because they think they will get 'fatter'. Completely disregarding the fact that muscle burns fat and is healthier tissue to be carrying around and is denser and therefore makes you physically smaller than someone who is carrying less muscle mass.

No, you were too busy revelling in your own cleverness to possibly consider anything like that.

Now back away from the computer. You're clearly too stupid to be allowed to use it.

Chew on that for a bit, baby.