Hi, everyone! So, I’m moving toward going on estrogen in the next year. Before I do that, there are some steps I want to take to prepare. I’m using an at-home IPL machine now for hair removal, and I’d like to get some voice lessons under my belt as well. The main step I want to take next is sperm cryopreservation. My fiancee and I want kids, but I’m not certain it would be a good idea to have a kid during puberty. So, we want to freeze my sperm or our embryos, and I was wondering if ya’ll have any resources you could share? I’ve looked into a few at-home sperm freezing kits, but it’s such a big deal to place your fertility in the hands of a company like that and any advice would be much appreciated! <3
Hi! Depends on where you live, but I live in the US and this is what I ended up doing.
My Endo recommended a service called Legacy for storage. She told me most of her patients have gone with them and although none to date have withdrawn their samples yet, everyone has had positive experiences with the deposit.
They’re an at home service, meaning they send you a kit in the mail. The kit included a cup for the sample, some mixing (think powdered cheese for microwavable Mac n cheese) to stabilize the sample and very strict instructions to make sure to have the sample dropped off or picked up by a mail carrier same day of producing the sample.
I did two deposits about a week apart from each other. They analyzed both samples for viability, STDs and even how a small portion of the sample handled being frozen and then thawed.
I even had the ability to use my true name in their system and the only place I needed to use my legal name was on the sample cup itself.
They’re going to store my sperm for 5 years. And the entire process cost my wife and I $1200 for collection, analysis and storage. We pay monthly payments of $100 with no interest.
Honestly very smooth process and I have no complaints.
Let me know if you have follow up questions :)
I just looked into this service, thank you! I’m really interested in their lifetime offering. Is your payment plan through Legacy, or did you take out a loan?
Check your local laws, some states have laws that fertility preservation must be “covered” by insurance when going through treatment that could impact fertility (like starting hormones or chemo). Some healthcare providers/systems do have this down pretty smoothly and might save you some hassle. (Of course you might not be in a place that this applies, but if you are, could be a useful thing to make use of)
*Note: covered doesn’t mean free, still subject to your usual co-pay/deductible, etc.
Doing it at home is an option I had never even condiered, I’m not sure that’s the wisest approach, but I could be wrong.
The reason to preserve your sperm is because hormone replacement therapy generally drops your sperm count to a point that you are infertile (and can also often result in dry orgasms where you don’t ejaculate)
My advice would be to look for a well reviewed, highly regarded fertility center in your area and go talk to them about the process and what it’d cost
