I've seen a lot of commercials lately about medicines that cause this or that medical condition...

i think that it takes the usda about 10 years to approve a pill...this could have changed but i do recall how bodybuilders and anyone with a fist full of cash were going to mexico to have hgh treatments.....10 years later it was approved supposedly

You might regret skirting the law...there's a REASON it's easier down there.

Yes they do. That is why they come with a long list of warnings and sometimes a web site for even more information. You know what's really funny? The doctors that prescribe them often have no idea of the side affects.

Umm...yeah nearly a decade of trialing by the FDA...........

Medications don't get automatically approved. Companies climb through all sorts of hoops to get that approval. Testing in all sorts of ways, all considerations. It can literally take a decade.

They do go through testing, and every one of those conditions mentioned in the ads was seen in test subjects. Some of them may be related to the drug; some may not. Some undesired effects aren't seen until a drug is in wide circulation (that's why there are recalls).

All of it comes down to risk/benefit. If a person has a debilitating condition, it may be worth the risk of developing a different condition to treat the one they already have.

Oh they test for them. That's why they blast those disclaimers at you @ 500 Miles an hour.

lol, someone clearly doesn't understand pharmaceuticals or biology :P

Never claimed I was a doctor or a pharmacist, smartass; if you can climb off your high horse long enough, tell me what I'm missing?

You misjudged my tone.

Well then, again, please enlighten me.

They test them heavily before the approve them, which is why they have the lists of side effects.
If you were to remove all the drugs which have side effects, their would be none left.
They all cause side effects because you are introducing a substance your body was not meant to deal with. Most of which are designed to interact with the body. Most of them do this by simulating or inhibiting hormones/neurotransmitters or whatever.
When you take, say an anti depressant tablet, you're effectively making your brain function differently. This alone causes problems. Then there's the fact that your body doesn't like to function differently, especially when it's due to foreign objects. So it makes it's best efforts to return to normal, which causes more problems. As well as that annoying escalating dosage and eventual dependency a lot of treatments end up with.

But there are side effects and then there are side effects, depends on the severity.

Side effects of greater severity are normally only found in drugs needed to treat a more serious condition.