Everything has side effects, many can have potential serious ones but most people do not get those! You have to decide if you want to sleep more or worry about those side effects. I don't get "many" side effects, I've only had one or two drugs I had to quit taking (penicillin and the antibiotic flagyl) but when you get the side effects the first time, they are usually not as serious as if you were to take the drug again/over a long time. The only meds I won't consider now are those with "black box" warnings (side effect of death, kind of defeats the purpose if you get that side effect? :-)

Not sleeping well can have more/worse side effects I think than the meds taken for a short time to allow the sleep while your pain area heals.