Are Certain Medicines Worth The Risks?

I will start off by clarifying that I am not a doctor nor am I in the healthcare field. However I am interested in personal health and try to keep up with issues of recent changes since many things have now come up and many new medicines are now on the market.

What now concerns me at times is the new medicines since there is always the issue of side effects. I will take an example of Lunesta since that is advertised on TV frequently and many people have insomnia. Insomnia is very prevalent since we are now in a age of high stress and worries which are among the highest causes of insomnia. Now they advertise Lunesta as the wonder prescription drug that makes one sleep right away and the commercial shows the people having a very nice sound sleep.

The commercial does warn though about side effects of Lunesta. What makes me wonder is the fact that are the side effects worth the risks of taking this medicine and dependency on a medicine as we can figure out can be hazardouz to one's health. I hope for the ones who are taking this medicine do not suffer the side effects.

For a long time vioxx was working wonders for people suffering with pains of arthritis. Then not too long later it was recalled because it was causing very serious side effects causing other health problems. This medicine was recalled and now many vioxx lawyers are working to resolve the issues surrounding this medication.

I also learned in TV commercial about lawyers who are handling cases against seraquil that was causing diabetes. If I am not mistaken, I think that was used as an antidepressant medication.

This all makes me wonder since all the medications have to pass the FDA requirements before hitting the market how strict is their screening process and how well do they check for side effects? Also before the medicine can be presented to the FDA, it has to be thoroughly tested in the labs and clinical studies among volunteers. I can see if one or two prescription drugs slip through the cracks but now it seems as if too many are slipping through the cracks. Also there should never be any fraction of a percentage room for error since this is always involving a person's health and life as well.