Stolen sibling-spellbound, suspicious and numb 2 years later

My dear sibling was prescribed the drug to help her manage neuropathic pain due to fibromyalgia. She was on this drug for a number of years, with little if any improvement in pain. In fact, she quickly transformed into a zombie- unable to get out of bed until the early afternoon, could no longer work, gained a lot of weight, developed a permanent inflammatory eye condition, dental sensitivities and her sense of humor started to slowly disappear.

I found myself often questioning what had happened to my dear sibling, the one with whom I used to laugh, joke around, confide in and dance? I chalked it all up to the fibromyalgia.

Approximately 7 years to later, she decided to come off the medication as she noticed it was starting to cause more harm than good. According to her partner, they didn’t take the tapering process lightly, but rather consulted with pain specialists for guidance.

After a 3.5 week taper, she surprisingly no longer had any of the original pain and discomfort from her fibro condition! But, that’s not all she lost in the process. She tragically lost her love, empathy and affection for me and our elderly parents. One month after the drug had left her body, she suddenly became suspicious of our kind loving gestures towards her and would become irate over the smallest action we took or words we said. Her love for us was tragically transformed into anger and resentment. Two years later, she is spellbound and has no insight into this change in her. Our once cohesive family is fractured because of the damage that the drug, followed by the rapid taper caused to her brain. We cannot get through to her. Not only did the drug exacerbate her medical condition, but it destroyed an amazing person and cohesive family.