[chrishoney]

I agree that you should make sure your SO is fully on board with full feminization. However, the risks Bryony talks about with regard to blood clots are, in my opinion, VERY over stated and derive mainly from research (google the Women's Health Initiative, a longitudinal study done in the US) in which subjects took Premarin and some form of synthetic progesterone, typically depo provera. Both of these are nasty drugs and have no place on the market, let alone as part of HRT for transitioning transexual women. There are much safer, and more effective bioidentical hormones readily available on the market today with significantly less deleterious side effects. Unfortunately many physicians are still of the opinion that all pharmaceutical estrogens are the same--they are NOT. Some are MUCH more dangerous than others. As this is an NBE site I won't go into details here, but the info is readily available on the web.

Also, you should be aware that there is a growing movement among therapists treating transgendered individuals (at least in the US though it is by no means wide spread as yet) of administering low dose estrogen to help with the various psychological sequelae of GID for those who do NOT wish to fully transition. There are several individuals that have or are getting this kind of therapy who post regularly on the forums at www.susans.org, mainly in the Androgyne section. You can get lots of useful info on the effects of HRT on susans as well, as some of the women there are interested in keeping male sexual function during transition, at least until they have SRS if that is their choice. There is also a small minority of women there that are opting to remain non-operative. From what I have read there, whether or not you loose all male sexual function on HRT is highly variable, but more likely than not.

Again, I agree with Bryony that if you have a SO, you should both know those risks/benefits and be prepared for how they will affect your particular relationship.