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Don't look now, but you have a drug problem. Yes, you—and your mother, too. In fact, all women do. We're 50 to 70% more likely to suffer bad reactions to the drugs we take, studies show—and our side effects tend to be more serious. We're close to a third more likely than a man to quit taking the medicine we've been prescribed, at least for some diseases—even if stopping increases the risk of death. Just as bad, says Marianne Legato, MD, founder and director of the Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine in New York City, some of the drugs we take simply may not help us get well. "Doctors need to pay attention to this," she says. "But too often, they don't." How bad is the situation? Most drugs are equal-opportunity healers. But out of 10 prescription drugs pulled from the market between 1997 and 2001, 8 primarily harmed women. A couple of them, the popular allergy remedies Seldane and Hismanal, were found to cause changes in heart rhythm—a rare but potentially deadly side effect. The problem was discovered after a 39-year-old woman was hospitalized with fainting and light-headedness. She'd been taking Seldane along with an antibiotic and then added a common antifungal drug for a yeast infection—and was lucky to survive. It's not just female hormones that put women at risk of dying of a runny nose. Nor is it simply that women tend to take more medicines than men do. Our whole physical makeup contributes to our problems with drugs. Women have a higher percentage of body fat than men, which affects how fast some drugs reach our organs. We're more apt to be "slow metabolizers": Our bodies can take longer to break down medicines, which therefore build up to potentially dangerous levels. Our brains aren't the same, either. And last year, a study in mice found that genes in every organ act differently in males and females—thousands of genes in the liver alone, which could have a major impact on drug metabolism, reports lead researcher Aldons Lusis, PhD, a geneticist at UCLA. "Our study revealed huge differences," Lusis says, adding that there's every reason to think the same variability occurs in humans. Legato sums it up: "Women are not just small men." Alabama (AL) Montgomery Montana (MT) Helena Alaska (AK) Juneau Nebraska (NE) Lincoln Arizona (AZ) Phoenix Nevada (NV) Carson City Arkansas (AR) Little Rock New Hampshire(NH) Concord California (CA) Sacramento New Jersey (NJ) Trenton Colorado (CO) Denver New Mexico (NM) Santa Fe Connecticut (CT) Hartford New York (NY) Albany Delaware (DE) Dover North Carolina (NC) Raleigh Florida (FL) Tallahassee North Dakota (ND) Bismarck Georgia (GA) Atlanta Ohio (OH) Columbus Hawaii (HI) Honolulu Oklahoma (OK) Oklahoma City Idaho (ID) Boise Oregon (OR) Salem Illinois (IL) Springfield Pennsylvania (PA) Harrisburg Indiana (IN) Indianapolis Rhode Island (RI) Providence Iowa (IA) Des Moines South Carolina(SC) Columbia Kansas (KS) Topeka South Dakota (SD) Pierre Kentucky (KY) Frankfort Tennessee (TN) Nashville Louisiana (LA) Baton Rouge Texas (TX) Austin Maine (ME) Augusta Utah (UT) Salt LakeCity Maryland (MD) Annapolis Vermont (VT) Montpelier Massachusetts (MA) Boston Virginia (VA) Richmond Michigan (MI) Lansing Washington (WA) Olympia Minnesota (MN) Saint Paul West Virginia(WV) Charleston Mississippi (MS) Jackson Wisconsin (WI) Madison Missouri (MO) Jefferson City Wyoming (WY) Cheyenne