Well as for the sleep medication, sometimes the side effects are really rare or they're not quite what you would think.
I don't know which sleep aid commercials you mean, but their are kinds of normal hallucinations you might see or hear when falling asleep. It mostly happens with people who have narcolepsy or who are sleep deprived. The sleep meds could most likely mean that. Anyone who needs sleep badly could hallucinate anyway. It's not quite the same as sitting there and all of a sudden Kermit the Frog is there singing a song about drawing Hitler sexy and in drag (Which kinda of happened to my friend when she had a fever and was trying to sleep)
Plus their are some cases where the benefits outweigh the small risk that might occur. They were talking about putting me on sleep meds for my fibromyalgia because it's a vicious cycle that people with chronic pain get trapped in. You're in pain, you can't sleep. You don't sleep, your pain gets worse. Your pain gets worse, you can't sleep. And you just keep getting worse and worse and worse. I don't think I'll be going on them because not only do I have a seizure disorder, that isn't really treating the pain problem in the way I feel comfortable with. Besides it was also suggested to me that I should have a sleep study done and be tested for narcolepsy. I don't feel like those two things mix.
Besides it's impossible to tell if you'll have a side effect or how your body will react. You may not have a side effect but you may react poorly in a different way. I was on muscle relaxants, again for the fibro, twice. Once was take for 2 weeks before they knew it was fibro (it was for strains) and the second was as needed. Both times I had mood changes but not what with was consistent of the side effects. I got extremely hostile. The first one it was easy for me to stop taking because it just plain did nothing.
The second time they worked, they helped me sleep. They knocked me out right away. I would wake up aching but not in an unbearable way. So I kept taking them. I got hostile again. This time I got worse. Before I just felt aggressive, but the second time I got aggressive. I screamed at people, I did things totally out of character for me, I was a monster to a lot of people and destroyed at least one friendship, though we hadn't been close for a while, I don't think it was inrepairable until that. Though he has been understanding I don't feel comfortable talking to him anymore after what I did, he's too forgiving.
It even got to the point where I punched out my laptop screen because Norton was keeping World of Warcraft from updating...and I am NOT a violent person nor am I addicted to WOW. Then one time I got up only shortly after going to bed and taking a pill..and I think I hallucinated. I don't remember what because it was also trashing my memory.
I also agree with pharmaceutical commercials even though meds are over prescribed. I think it helps take away stigma from a lot of conditions and a lot of countries need a dose of that. There was a girl I knew and was sort of becoming friends with from a culture that I did not know at the time had a big taboo about being mentally ill... and she outright mocked a girl whose sister committed suicide to her face and basically said it was good that she killed herself and that her mother was the one that discovered her dead daughter in their blood covered bathroom. I've sadly seen a lot more people from the culture be the same and even more rational thinking people from he same culture who are actually educated about mental illness admit that the view of it is disgusting.
Not saying we don't have the same here, but I've never quite seen it on that same level, at least not as much from supposedly mature adults.
Sorry for the long reply.