My therapist recommended that I speak with a specialist about HRT, the impacts it might/might not have, and discuss a plan. I tried Planned Parenthood, but it’s not covered by my insurance. My insurance provider (UHC) seems to only provide me with references to surgeons for MTF surgeries, which I’m not interested in. I just want to speak with someone who can have a discussion about how HRT might work and how - in particular - it might impact my fertility. I want to know what options are available to me to increase the likelihood of maintaining my fertility.
Are there online services available to help me ask these questions and get answer specific to my goals? Does it make sense to try and sign up for Plume (which is covered by my insurance) for this kind of thing?
Not a doctor. But YMMV! Talk to an endocrinologist if you can but they will probably tell you that you need to freeze sperm if you want to be 100% sure to preserve fertility. That’s what I did and I kinda regret it because it took freaking ages and delayed my HRT date, and I was only able to afford it due to the cushy union healthcare plan covering it through Progyny. It’s still going to cost me freaking $800 a year to keep jizz on ice and I have to save for it throughout the year. It’s really important for my partner to have bio kids, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have done this. If you are able to, you can pay out of pocket for sperm banking and it will be like $1500 supposedly.
You probably don’t need to bank before trying HRT. The fertility effects take a while. Lower doses tend not to affect it. If I got a sperm analysis right now I bet they’d tell me I still have swimmers.
Anecdote: A lady I know went off E in order to have a kid with her partner (who went off T to do so as he is a trans guy) and she was able to conceive after going off for a couple months.