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A young woman from New Zealand, Charlotte Gilmour, has sparked awareness after enduring a rare and severe reaction to medication prescribed for depression. At 23, Gilmour shared her harrowing experience, describing it as "terrifying" and stating that the medication "burned me from inside out."

Gilmour developed Steven-Johnson syndrome (SJS), an uncommon condition characterized by painful blisters on the skin, mouth and oesophagus, local news outlet Stuff reported.

Having a 10% fatality rate, SJS typically manifests as flu-like symptoms and progresses to a blistering rash as per the Mayo Clinic, the New York Post cited.

Medical professionals attribute Gilmour's reaction to lamotrigine, an antiepileptic drug also prescribed for depression, which is known to have SJS as a rare side effect. She had been battling a chest infection for several weeks before waking up with a painful rash, though it remains unclear if SJS caused the chest infection, according to NDTV.

"I looked in the mirror, and I just burst into tears. I think I subconsciously knew it was something quite serious," Gilmour reportedly said.

While rushing to the hospital, she encountered Filipino nurses who swiftly identified her condition, drawing from their experiences with similar cases in the Philippines.

However, she recounted feeling apprehensive when the medical staff expressed uncertainty, stating, "It was scary, I guess, hearing ... 'OK, no one really knows a lot about this'."

"The scariest part about it is that it burned me from the inside out. So all the burns on the outside were because my insides were so burned that it started to manifest on the outside of my skin."

Beyond affecting her skin and mouth, the reaction caused painful blisters throughout her digestive system, rendering normal eating impossible. Consequently, doctors resorted to inserting a feeding tube to sustain her with essential nutrients, yet her condition persisted despite steroid treatment.

"So they stopped them ... and then it just got worse and worse until there was one night it got so bad I pretty much lost my vision," she explained.

Gilmour was latersreintroduced to steroids which eventually provided relief. Despite a month-long hospitalization and significant progress, she continues to endure lingering after-effects, with recurrent blisters and rash flare-ups.