Laura Plummer, 33, from Hull, was arrested when she was found to be carrying Tramadol and Naproxen in her suitcase.
According to reports, she signed a 38-page statement in Arabic which she thought would result in her being able to leave the airport.
Instead she has been held in a 15ft by 15ft cell with 25 other women for nearly a month.
Her brother James Plummer, 31, said the family has been told she could face up to 25 years in jail, with one lawyer even mentioning the death penalty.
Mr Plummer said his sister had been arrested for what he thinks the authorities in Egypt call "drug trafficking".
But he says she had only brought a small amount of medication for her Egyptian husband Omar who she visits two to four times a year.
The tablets had a "street value" of just £23.20, reports The Sun .
Laura's mum Roberta Synclair, 63, from Hull, told the paper her daughter had "no idea" she was doing anything wrong.
“The painkillers were placed at the top of her suitcase, she wasn’t hiding them," she said. “We’ve been told she’s facing either 25 years in prison or the death penalty.”
Mr Plummer said his sister just thought she was doing a "good deed" by bringing the medication over to her partner, and said she will be "completely out of her comfort zone" in jail.
"She's so by the book, so routine, she just likes her own home comforts, watches Emmerdale every night or things like that, going to bed at nine o'clock every night," he said.
Mr Plummer said his mother and sisters have travelled to Egypt to visit Laura following her arrest on October 9, adding: "They say she's unrecognisable. When they seen her, she's like a zombie, they said."
He said her hair is starting to fall out due to stress and he voiced concerns about how she will cope.
"I don't think she's tough enough to survive it," he said, adding: "She has a phobia of using anybody else's toilet, so let alone sharing a toilet and a floor with everybody else. That will be awful for her, it'll be traumatising."
Mr Plummer said the family feel "helpless" due to being in a different country, and said of his sister: "It's awful for Laura... she's not a tough person at all. She's only small."
Laura flew to Hurghada airport on October 9 for a two week holiday to see her Egyptian husband Omar, 33.
He suffers from back pain, so Laura took out 29 strips of Tramadol, each containing ten tablets, given to her by a friend.
While it is sometimes used by addicts as a heroin substitute, the pills sell for just 8p each.
Her terrified dad, Nevile, has already spent £10,000 on legal bills and Roberta and her daughters, Rachel Plummer, 31, and Jayne Synclair, 40, have visited her.
Laura is back in court on Thursday.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are supporting a British woman and her family following her detention in Egypt."
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