Do severe side effects of a medication have to occur in all/most cases to be considered not worth it?

If they don’t occur for you and they solve the problem you’re taking them for, then it’s worth it. I take zolpidem for occasional insomnia, have for years and had no ill effects.

In a functioning society if a drug consistently has bad side effects for most people it will be taken off the market.

Yes, this is the sort of thing that changes from person to person. Their tolerance for the bad stuff has to balance or be less than the benefits it gives them. That decision is on a personal level, not a universal level.

Example: A couple of years ago I had a bad infection in my leg. Seriously bad. The docs put me an an incredibly strong IV antibiotic. Upset my stomach something terrible.. It was exceedingly unpleasant. But it killed the infection.

Side effect: terribly unpleasant. But worth it.

Unpleasant/ exceedingly painful is different from causes amnesia, sleep walking.

@flo Did you read at all what I wrote?

There’s such a thing as medication taken off market/not worth the side effect/s.
https://tinyurl.com/sx79fjw

Sure, as I wrote in my last sentence but if they only occur some of the time in some people, they may not. There have been drugs that have caused fatalities like certain diet drugs and they have been withdrawn. Ambien or zolpidem is not one of them. Most drugs that may have side effects give a warning and tell you to stop taking them if you experience them.

“Edited to add” or no “Edited to add”.

That’s the question.

The side effects not worth it, or the medicines not worth it?

I don’t like to take medicine even when the side effects are mild or seemingly non-existent. You never know what the medicine is doing to you. I’ll give you an example: a person might be taking a medication that makes them feel better, but have no idea that the meds are causing them to have high blood pressure. Eventually, maybe it will be discovered, but they might go months without knowing. Last year I was taking a new drug and the only reason I found out it was damaging my kidneys was because I asked for some tests to be done. I was not symptomatic at all, just paranoid enough, thank goodness, that I wanted things checked. I could have gone on taking that medication for a long time before I knew the damage it was doing. I stopped the medication, but my kidney function has never come back to the old levels, I believe I have some permanent damage.

There are all sorts of “silent” things that can happen in the body that can wind up harming us. Of course, sometimes medication is necessary. I take thyroid medication daily. I also take large doses of vitamin D, sometimes I worry that strains some organs, who knows.

@JLeslie Yes, of course. Great post.

@rebbel I’m still thinking about your answer. Thank you
@elbanditoroso Thank you. I’m thinking of people who set themselves on fire to protest something or other ways of going through all kinds of pain.