What does it mean “becoming an empty shell”?do you mean you become despair state and lose life rapidly?1.If the soul gem doesn't work, perhaps the gem is not YOUR soul gem(please check the signature on item).In this case,make a new one and use it.
2.Make sure you know soul gems will be polluted over time,and you need to use grief seeds to get rid of the pollution regularly.3.If it's not the case above, I may need more details.

ah! thank you! ^^ for some reason, when i signed the contract, it said it wasn't mine, but after like the 5th one it fixed itself,,,, thank you so much !!! your mod is awesome btw