Customer Reviews

Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher

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Finally a very honest and genuine account of the reality of the drug industry. Gwen Olsen takes you through a personal journey of a pharma sales rep with glimpses into the harsh reality of how the pharmaceutical industry operates. In this account, Gwen courageously talks about the suicide of her niece and the effects that prescribed medication may have had on bringing about this tragedy.
Her work is scrupulously researched and very balanced as she tries to find answers to the events that led to the death of her young niece. At the same time she begins to question her work as a "drug salesman" and begins to question the ethos of the health care system. Could the same drugs that she had been selling be harmful to the brain chemistry of people, perhaps permanently? Olsen gives a balanced view of the factors that led to the violent suicide of this young soul. It is not an attack on the pharmaceutical industry, but an honest account by someone who is brave enough to have broken away from what was a lucrative career in order to find truth.

Having left pharmaceutical research myself, for reasons similar to what Olsen describes, I can relate very closely to what she says. Now, working in clinical practice, I see the devastating effects that prescribed medicines can cause. This is a book that I will be recommending to many patients that come through my door.

This honest account by Gwen Olsen brought hope and answers! The puzzling questions of what happens to people on these drugs, the effects and the hazards. I have recommended (and bought it) for several people and the opinion is this is a must read for anyone on or contemplating taking SSRIs, how big PHarma has hood winked the public, and the very real dangers of the anti-depressant world (why we are seeing violence and suicides escalating). I am so sorry for your loss and I thank you Gwen Olsen for your courage!

"Confessions of a RX Drug Pusher" is a captivating and well documented exposure of trends in our current "drug" culture. Our experiences can only verify the facts of this book. Events related herein are repeated day after day but our society is bent on treating symptons rather than dealing effectively with the causes. May parents, loved ones and friends, be so kind as to face the truth and save the lives, literaly and figuratively, of thoses we love. Humanity will be well served to "wake up and smell the roses" as the author of this book admonishes.

I've been a pharmacist since 1971 and I vividly recall a conversation I once had with a drug salesman (called detail man at the time). He explained that his goal was to sell a certain number of dollars worth of one particular drug. He stated that he didn't care whether he sold one pill or a million, as long as the price worked out to his goal. That conversation has stuck with me for over two decades because it was at that moment that I first realized my perception of the drug companies was far different from what people in that industry believed.

Perhaps I was naive, but during pharmacy school and years of work at a large county hospital, I found that I actually believed my profession was honorable and that I was part of a giant team focused on helping people be healthy and get well when illness struck. This was surely the ideal in school, and I assumed things actually operated that way.

Gwen Olsen's book is exactly as the title says, a CONFESSION. She has done a clear, masterful job describing how she unwittingly lived through the horrors of a harmful, dysfunctional family and found herself enmeshed in an industry where she was expected to make sales at any cost. Concern for an ill person was not part of her work paradigm.

The author not only lived through the personal and business issues but exited from both, apparently still intact. After my first reading of "Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher", I described it to friends as terrifying and almost sickening. That description remains valid. More important than the story is the reports of experience, learning, and growth that shaped this author into a perfect spokesperson for all of us who find ourselves in direct opposition to the antics of the drug companies. If I hadn't had direct experience with the issues Olsen describes in her book, I might think she was engaged in fiction, not reporting fact. Sadly, she's right on track. Her tale is still terrifying, but you should read it - maybe more than once. You may begin to understand that it has never been the intent of any drug maker to improve health. Instead, their goal has always been to maximize profits at the expense of health.

Thank you Gwen Olsen for writing this powerful expose and first hand account on what can happen in an industry when it is fueled by greed and empowered by a system that is supposed to be its watchdog.

As she notes of Albert Einstein's quote in the beginning of Chapter 13, "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." Gwen has chosen to do something by writing this book, taking her 15 years of experience as a pharmaceutical representative, and now advocating on behalf of others by courageously educating the public on the ins and outs of a dangerous system gone awry. As awareness is the first step in bringing about positive change, Gwen Olsen is on the forefront of bringing that change about.

Dawn Marie Roeder, Author of:
It Doesn't End Here: An Amazing Journey of Faith and Forgiveness

This book is told like a story. The book is about a pharma sales rep Gwen. Gwen is struggling with family problems and her own addictions to
anti depressants. Gwen is looking at the brutal truth of the
pharmacutical industry. This industry does not care about your health!!! They will do anything to keep you under their thumb. Their interested in emptying your wallet. This business want's you sick and will lie about their drugs. The bottom line is there making you take drugs that you most likely don't evan need. The Doctors don't have time to study the findings on drug test's Doctors just listen to the reports or the pharma industry about the safty of their drugs which in most cases (the cooked books) or outcomes are slanted in their favor.
Very well told story about the real truth behind big pharma. I highly reccomend reading!!! For all you nay sayers who say The pharmacutical industry is our friend their trying to help us with new drugs. Think again people!!!!!

This is written by someone who worked as a drug representative for 15 years and had the courage and integrity to speak out about what she witnessed, which was an industry consumed by greed and profit rather than healing. Pharmaceutical companies purposely, and in a very calculated way, keep Americans sick and dying in order to make money off them. Straight from the drug reps mouth.

Nancy Rector, author of:
"A Painful Truth - The Entrapment of America's Sick" (How being ill got me arrested.)

I read this book as part of research for my own novel, and found it very well written. It was backed by interesting scientific facts, yet was very personal and from a unique perspective of somene whose family was touched by mental illness, impacted by psychotropic drugs, and also peddled these same drugs to doctors with eventual misgivings.

Throughout the book, the author goes back and forth between interpersonal experience and her career. I wanted to hear more about her role as a Pharm rep, but that's my bias and was my reason for reading the book. If anything, her Pharm rep role was toned down compared to what happens in the industry. And by the author's own volition, the book turned into a cathartic purge of all her experiences with mental illness.

If you or a loved one have taken, or are considering taking a psychotropic medication, I think it's certainly worth a read. I have high respect for the author who was willing to be so personal and also disclose so much, which was certainly a huge risk.

I suppose, in this case, the penance for her deeds is the act of telling her tale and confessing to those who will listen.

I am impressed with the details of this book... I had always been suspect of being over medicated and once nearly died when five different doctors prescribed a toxic combination of thirteen drugs to help with my combined problems from diabetes, anemia, chronic pain and depression. After four months of feeling worse, I weaned myself off all prescribed drugs but not without feeling suicidal.

At one point I lied to my psychiatrist, and stopped taking all meds he prescribed. I refused to take blood tests to find levels and ignored many attempts to try 'new' samples of medication. During the time period of not taking psych medication I started to gain strength and heal with talk therapy. No psych drugs needed. Why did I do this? Because, while on psych drugs I felt lethargic, suicidal, fatigued and lived with no hope. At first, I was afraid to share this information with the same doctors who were treating me because according to my insurance guideline I must be medicated to receive benefits. I was outraged, intimidated and manipulated into buying un-necessary medication and storing un-used meds in my medicine cabinet just to get my medical bills paid by insurance and continue to receive psychiatric help...

I am doing well today. My therapy lasted eighteen years and yes, I was a mess. But I healed by working with my therapist and doctors to my individual needs. Without a toxic combination of drugs.

I am a survivor of multiple personality disorder. I now see a holistic doctor and never felt better physically and mentally in my life. The mind is powerful and I am a true believer in less is more.

In reading this book it not only confirmed my belief but has helped me understand the world of a rx drug sales rep. I am sorry about the loss of Gwen's niece to suicide but glad to read a book that all doctors should read if they are to understand and help their patients get well. My doctors worked with "Me" to heal me. Once I questioned them they each helped me heal without medication. I am grateful to them for that. Patients truly need to be their own advocates.

I would love to talk more with the author about my experiences...

Karen Overhill Co-Author of my story, "Switching Time" by Author Richard Baer
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