很多女性都承擔着激素避孕的後果

Staring up at the ceiling, bottomless, too wet, and cold. He tells me I'm doing great and we can just go ahead. I consent, and the pain is blinding. I start screaming and swearing at the doctor. This is the first time I made a half-baked decision about contraception. When I got on the pill, I spent hours looking up the kind I wanted, comparing them (through Planned Parenthood's website), but when I got my IUD inserted, I vaguely mentioned to the doctor that I had been thinking about it. Without as much research, I ended up lying on a table in pain, proud owner of a new Mirena.

盯着天花板，沒穿內褲的我感到又潮溼又陰冷。他對我說我做的很棒，我們可以繼續向前發展了。我同意了，而疼痛卻令人眼花繚亂。我開始尖叫、咒罵醫生。這是我第一次作出關於避孕的不成熟決定。吃避孕藥時，我花了好幾個小時對比不同的類型（通過計劃生育網站）才找到我想要的那一款，但當我注入子宮內避孕器時，我卻只是模模糊糊地對醫生說了句我一直在想要不要做這件事。先前，我沒有做足夠的調查，最後我痛苦地躺在手術檯上，成爲了新款曼月樂的驕傲擁有者。

Mirena is a plastic intrauterine device that's effective for up to five years in the United States (though my doctor told me it probably works for seven). Mirena releases "low doses of a progestin hormone called levonorgestrel." Specifically, "initial release rate of levonorgestrel is 20 mcg/day; this rate is reduced by about 50 percent after five years." Levonorgestrel is a synthetic progestin steroid commonly used in contraception, like Mirena and Plan B. Levonorgestrel was synthesized in the early 1960s by American scientist Herschel Smith at the US-based company Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. It creates a negative feedback loop, causing less secretion of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), both critical in stimulating ovulation, therefore inhibiting it. Additionally, levonorgestrel causes the mucus in the cervix to thicken, preventing fertilization.

曼月樂是一種置於宮內的塑料設備，在美國能有效使用5年（但我的醫生告訴我，曼月樂或能使用7年）。曼月樂釋放"少量的被稱作左旋炔諾孕酮孕的孕激素。"具體而言，"剛開始釋放左旋炔諾孕酮孕的速度爲20mcg每天，5年後速度減少50%。" 左旋炔諾孕酮孕是一種合成孕激素類固醇，通常被用於避孕，比如曼月樂和B計劃（Plan B）。二十世紀六十年代初，美國科學家赫舍爾·史密斯在美國惠氏製藥有限公司合成了左旋炔諾孕酮孕。它產生了消極的反饋循環，導致促黃體激素和促卵泡激素分泌較少，這兩種激素對刺激排卵至關重要，因此人們抑制了對它的使用。此外，左旋炔諾孕酮孕導致宮頸粘液變粘稠，預防受精。

Hormones are synthesised and prescribed, on and off label, without understanding the consequences in the body. In Donna Haraway's Staying With the Trouble, she traces the use and synthesis of hormones. My grandmother took hormonal birth control in the 1960s; it's just as likely to have contained levonorgestrel as not. She, like me, developed cysts on her ovaries. They, along with an ovary, were removed, and my grandmother (a teacher) was out of work for six weeks. Mine were taken less seriously. I went to the doctor because I was sure my IUD had come out, and as I was in too much pain to sit down.

不管藥物是否適用，激素都已合成，能開處方藥了，但人們並不瞭解激素對人體造成的後果。在康納·哈洛維的Staying With the Trouble書籍中，她探索了激素的使用和合成。二十世紀六十年代，我的祖母接受了激素避孕，很可能和含有左旋炔諾孕酮孕的激素避孕一樣。她和我一樣出現了卵巢囊腫。祖母（一位老師）的囊腫和卵巢都一起被去除了，她連續六週都沒去工作。而我卻沒當回事兒。我去看醫生是因爲我確定自己的子宮內避孕器已經出來了，坐下來會太過痛苦。