Your story sounds a lot like mine. I also thought it was an addiction. I thought having thoughts and feelings of wanting to be a girl were just an absurd fantasy. I spent hundreds of dollars on clothes, make up, shaving products, wigs, etc. and would just throw it all out the next day. I hid it and lied about it to my wife and on and on. I found this website because I was trying to find a "cure" on the internet. At first I thought I was a CDer, after many agonizing years I finally admitted that I needed to transition. Life is WAY better now!