[EricaB]

Lucy, I hope things are working out ok for you as it's been a while since you posted. I also have reservations concerning what I am doing/about to do. Most in here seem so self-confident, so self assured - but this is scary. I think there are at least two aspects to this, one physical, one psychological. The physical seems to be pretty well discussed here. The psychological, not so much. I suspect that many enter this because there is something about themselves they don't care for. Be it their personality, their appearance or some other aspect of their self. So they go through great effort changing themselves, some going all the way to become post-op transsexual. But once the changes are completed, some find that they are still there, still with many of the same issues. After all that work, they look in the mirror and see that they are still there. Anyway, that's my biggest concern about this entire process. Do I really want to reach the destination to which this path will lead? And it sounds as though you might need to ask yourself the same question. Talk about rambling, just listen to me. But just by writing this, I now have a better understanding of why in the USA they require psychological review before prescribing hormones and why they require a genetic male to live as a woman full time for a year before they'll consider reassignment surgery.

Best of luck to us both.