Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher

I appreciate this woman for coming out with what she has in both her books and on video sources of her overviews confessing on the whole issue. It does add fruit to the equation about the pros and cons of drugs. Everything about her book seems pretty sound though some examples she gives like specific enough details about the awful thing that happened with her niece. But at the same time, her whole confession and testimony I would say gives you a divine message that there is something wrong concerning the whole drug pandemic that is happening. Including when it comes to how lightly ones (including all doctors, pharmacists, manufacturers, etc.) should take to them. However, from what she confesses, I will have to argue against a few important matters when it comes to the way she is bashing drugs. Even if it is for heartfelt reason. There are some instances, even with her niece's traumatic experience in mind, that I believe Gwen Olsen is not being careful enough in with what words that she has chosen to speak out against them. In some cases, I believe that her actions were knee-jerk and jumping to conclusions too quickly. Furthermore, from my experiences even with such matter, I would have to argue that the subject of how good and bad drugs are is always a pretty delicate subject for anyone to discuss. Because there are instances where you can always be right, but also where you can always be wrong. I appreciate Gwen Olsen's integrity of honesty about her background and experience, and the scandalous tragic thing that became of her niece, but there are things about medicine that do counter some of her claims about drugs.One major thing this woman doesn't seem to be aware of or is overlooking is the fact that it is not just the drug alone in all tablets or forms that may be potentially hazardous to anyone's health, but it is very likely the inactive ingredients that are in them as well. Which is the same thing that can cause even supplements come this age to sickness on certain individuals as well. It can be a combination of both.Plus, when it comes to the drug itself, you could have some kind of a chemical intolerance to it, or you may not be given the appropriate drug for the way your complex body chemistry is in the first place.But when it comes to the fillers, if anyone ever manages to find out what the inactive ingredients in their medications or any of them are, then they would not believe a number of the things the list would reveal. So, I believe that inactive ingredients that define tablet fillers (not to mention what colors and sweetens liquid medicine contain) and how sanitary every tablet is are just as much the cause behind all the side effects that make drugs any of a danger to the overall population's health besides just the drugs themselves and how high quality they are made. Even which the FDA not to mention drug manufacturers, pharmacists, doctors, etc. should care about and acknowledge on the side of their patients.Another thing I will have to admit from my own experience concerning pharmaceutical drugs is, and I am going to have to be frank saying this, but I believe that where she's coming from, it appears as though she is trying to make it look as though like all drugs should be blacklisted, and that they are all in all bad. And by many examples out there, it is not necessarily true. Some people as a last resort do need medication no matter what, because sometimes a mental illness is so bad and crippling in some individuals that they do need an appropriate drug or minimal combination to relieve it to the very best on a permanent basis. In those cases, they just need the right thing.Gwen Olsen is right in saying that there is no such thing as a safe drug. But that would explain why some substances are legally restricted to being pharmaceuticals that you would have to be monitored carefully by doctors every so often for using. I believe that it is how you use the drugs that you are given (besides what you have for any other reason) that determines how dangerous they are or becomes for one.Now, my heart goes out to Gwen Olsen's niece, and that is a most sorrying thing to ever hear of or experience. At the same time, I can see that the real reason as to why this whole tragic mess happened with her was because when she got hooked on the pain killer she was given, she did not go for proper medical supervision for it or even a proper rehabilitation program for addiction when she started having the concentration side effects, therefore she instead turned to the life-risking path of "self-medicating." And anyone should know that for all chemical reasons, such things are the most dangerous. Like Gwen Olsen said, she had a drug toxicity from trying to take a mind stimulant on top of a pain killer, which the ER didn't diagnose her with when they should have. But substance toxicities and interactions is the result of ones who self-medicate. And I would say it's definitely not safe whenever someone is on more than a couple of drugs at once. And the worst kind of chemical straightjacket is if any of them interact with each other, besides if you get dependent on a drug.All I know is, even based on experiences good and bad that anybody has ever had in such matters, we (even ones like Gwen Olsen) need to be careful about what we say against or in support of pharmaceutical drugs, because in some instances, and even with proof, they have helped people even in the long run. Even at the same time as being unnecessary for others or causing negative reactions. The goal would be if you have to have medication is being able to get the best out of the most minimal combinations of prescribed substances taken at once. And the side effects can be lived with as long as they don't harm your vital functions.Now how well they are for people on a long term basis and how much honesty there is in that field from doctors and psychiatrists, without an agenda, that is debatable and should take a lot more investigations with all of these matters in mind. While there are some cases where drugs gave someone a positive boost in their threshold and didn't harm someone long term, there are ones where people were benefited from it permanently, and others where people got off fine and were able to permanently. But whatever the case is, nobody can really haul off and bash all pharmaceuticals in the face of all purposes and be right.So, with all the above in mind, we need hard evidence that proves whether there is a conspiracy theory to dishonestly push as many people as possible on drugs, or if any of it is out of a matter of knee-jerk moderist incompetence and blind faith that so many get in the fact that there is a magic bullet that will fix the problem or cause; at the same time, the possibility that there are drug manufacturers who truly have good intentions for the chemically impaired out there.

When I read Gwen Olsen's book "Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher" I thought of the 7 dwarfs (CEO's) of Philip Morris Tobacco Co. going before Congress and all 7 agreeing with each other that cigarettes are non-addictive. An insider made known to 60 Minutes that this company had been lying and making cigarettes even more addictive, at the cost of his job. Well, Gwen Olsen was an insider for 15 years and she has gone above and beyond the call of duty to make known that the pharmaceutical industry is producing and marketing billions of dollars worth of drugs that are basically useless and dangerous. Most psychiatric drugs are dangerous to take and if one wants to go to a "symbolic hell" try to get off them. Not to say that you can't get off of them, cause you most certainly can, but not abruptly. I personally have taken two of these type drugs, Klonopin and Valium and went cold turkey due to my ignorance about them. I thought I was going insane, with feelings that I can't put into words. Gwen brings out that anyone taking a psychiatric drug must do so gradually over a period of scheduled time and seek the help of a professional. Be careful. My heart goes out to Gwen at her loss of her niece Megan due to these drugs that, rather than help her, created such internal agony that she took her own life. I'm sorry Gwen (from my wife, too). Now the drugs I mentioned earlier were benzodizepines ("benzo's" street) or what we used to refer to as tranquillizers. Gwen writes about other psychiatric drugs that are worse than benzo's, NEUROLEPTICS and ANTI-DEPRESSANTS. As a substance abuse counselor I've seen many drug addicts that have become worse because they took these psychiatric drugs along with illicit drugs. Now they have to get off the illicit drugs through withdrawal reactions, plus withdrawal reactions if they stop the psychiatric drugs that were prescribed to them. Psychiatrists in this day and age will almost always (99% of the time) prescribe a psychiatric drug for their patients. This includes our young one's. Gwen has made it a point to work on helping young people without the use of pharmaceutical drugs. This is such a worthy cause! We don't want our young one's to grow up with a chemical handycap. These drugs can cause a generation of young one's who have a big strike against them before they're adults. Gwen is a child advocate who is one that our young one's need in their corner of life. Also, Gwen's book has given me a new perspective on when and when not to depend on the pharmaceutical industry in my household. Also, I have guidance from her book on how I can be more helpful to my client's through empathy, and approachableness instead of recommending pharmaceuticals as a solution to their difficulties with drugs. In conclusion I would like to recommend that everyone adopt the valuable information that Gwen Olsen has courageously put out there in this great book. Be encouraged by the info in her book, cause it gives hope for people already on psychiatric drugs and those who think they need them when they don't. Thanks Gwen

I watched the documentary "Prescription Thugs" the other night and was so impressed with the articulate and impassioned Gwen Olsen that I did some research and found this book written by her.I thought it would be strictly about "Pharma" and somewhat impersonal, but instead a good part of the book is about the author's family and how drugs deleteriously impacted it. The story about her niece was heartbreaking. I do feel that, due to her abuse as a child, even without all the meds prescribed, her end might have been equally tragic. God bless her. But certainly the meds were integral to her feeling that life was unbearable.I was on antidepressants for twenty-five years and Zyprexa for about ten. I had no idea they were numbing my feelings. When I got off them in my early fifties (very slowly!), I was shocked to find all the feelings that came rushing back. Talk about overwhelm!!! Oy. My doctor never said a word about Zyprexa causing diabetes. We're all just guinea pigs in the end when it comes to the chemicals they hand out. Now they've got a new one they are advertising all the time. I can't remember the name, but it's for people who laugh and cry too much. Give me a break!! That must be for the disease called "The Human Condition".Anyway, I enjoyed reading this book. The author articulately illuminates the world of Pharma. It's not philanthropy, that's for sure.

This is an amazing read. It was beyond shocking at times, especially reading about the authors poor niece who committed suicide after years on psychiatric drugs that just made her worse, never better. I have read lots about these sorts of drugs making mental illness far worse and leading to murders and suicides. I love the fact this book isn't too long either, very easy to read and you quickly know what the entire industry is like. If you (or a loved one!) are on psychiatric medications, contemplating it, please for gods sake read this book!

fantastic book. I've been hearing about this for a long time and the fact that somebody form the industry has confirmed it is astonishing in every level. Good for you Gwen! you go girl!!!

Really good book people shud read it

Very interesting read. I would recommend

Great book. Thoroughly interesting.