u/jjmoreta

We've only been here a year and I need to find my daughter a new PCP / gender affirming doctor already.

Dr. Cruz is no longer at Allina Health in Blaine and if a letter was sent, we missed it. My daughter loved Dr. Cruz so is pretty gutted right now. She has enough meds to give us some time at least.

I have access to provider lists but I will have to bump them against the maps so I thought I might ask in a post first because personal recommendations are always great. I have BCBS so most doctors are usually covered, I'm not locked into Allina. She prefers female or transgender doctors. She also does not drive and public transit in our area is awful, so I will be taking her for the most part.

Any gender affirming primary care doctors in the Andover / Coon Rapids / Blaine area you can recommend? Or maybe a bit further south? I don't really want to drive all the way into Minneapolis unless I have to, or if her care there will be that much better to justify it. Or anything that isn't too far off the bus routes from Anoka County (since they killed the Northstar).

Also on the lookout for great clinics for facial and body electrolysis in Anoka County that take BCBS. She has very light red hair so I don't think laser will cut it. I saw some earlier threads about electrolysis so I'll be reviewing those, but also appreciate recommendations, especially since I've read some clinics may not be as friendly as others.

Looking for upgraded safety gear for my ICE. I have the basic cycling gear but it's old and due for a refresh. I searched through the forum posts and there hasn't really been any recent discussion that I could find around newer helmet models.

I like the smart helmets I've seen. But I also understand that they may not work well with headrests (helmet coming down too far on the neck or helmet dials on the neck). I could also adjust my neck rest if needed.

The UNIT Aura looks good from reviews. I can't decide if it comes down too far from photos and I don't really want to buy it online and have to return it, so I thought I would ask if anyone else has looked at helmets like these. It has higher safety ratings than Lumos and Sena.

Edit - now also looking at the new model Lumos Sonorus that just went through Kickstarter which also has a higher safety rating but still may have problems with coming down too far on the neck.

I have a Bontrager that works for now. Everyone recommends certain models of Lazer, Specialized and Giro but I haven't seen any that I absolutely love. They would have to have an option to add a headlight which I do have for my Bontrager.

I have always enjoyed brightly colored fun helmets but all the ones I'm looking at are boring shades of black, white, and millennial gray. The prettiest ones I find are all non-MIPS so I won't even consider them. But a color I like is a bonus.

My wish: MIPS and (preferably) ebike certified, integrated lights (mainly for visibility not going to be the main headlight), fun bright color, and is not too heavy or uncomfortable with a neck rest.

A removable eyeshield clear or tinted that will work with prescription glasses is a bonus offering but not required. I plan on investing in a Da Brim visor for shade.

Any comments on helmets you currently have and love with any of these options? Or if you've tried on any of the smart helmets?

Just switched to BEWL Optio from another teleprovider. Compounded tirz but I did not know the pharmacies. I know it changed at least once in the 3 shipments I had.

I'm on 7.5. This will be my 2nd month at this dose due to continuing nausea. The plan is to go up to 10 next month, unless I keep feeling increased symptoms.

Normal symptoms for me were nausea, gas and mild constipation. It was awful that first week and then each dose change was milder and only for a few days. But all controllable with OTC after the first week.

So imagine my surprise today when I got my shipment this morning and had a completely different experience so far.

Zero nausea, which I'm happy about. But the almost instant and unexpected colon cleanse, to put it nicely, was a bit of a surprise. Maybe I needed it?

I'm hoping this is within the range of normal. No reason to think yet that it's lettuce/food I ate, another med or an illness. I just plan to drink extra water and maybe go on a BRAT diet until it resolves. It's just weird because my prior doses slowed my system down so much.

I'm injecting almost twice the volume (60 units) as my previous pharmacy but I don't think that would make a difference due to different concentrations. It's what the RX bottle says.

My tirz didn't have any additives before. I hope I'm not somehow sensitive to B3. How would I tell? Not feeling a niacin flush at least.

Anyone else experience different side effects when changing pharmacies? Was it a temporary reaction or was the formulation just that different?

I've only been on HRT a few months and one dose change.

At that last increase the pharmacy gave me a box and said hey this box has more patches in there. I didn't think anything about it, thought maybe they had filled more than 30 days, I think I was in a hurry that day.

I don't specify brand I just thought they had to switch it up to go up a dose and maybe availability based on all the shortages.

So I've been using one patch a week, like my first dose had. I think I'm at about 6 weeks.

Come to find out when I went into my app today to refill a different prescription, I noticed that this prescription was marked as overdue for refill and is a TWICE WEEKLY PATCH. I completely missed that. The RX tech completely missed that.

Well at least it's only a case of me getting less hormone these past weeks, not zero. And honestly I'm glad that this one is twice weekly which is less irritation. I just thought those were harder to find.

I've used the same bank BoA for basically 20 years. It was chosen because there were a ton of locations in Dallas where we lived and my ex worked there for a while and I've just never really had a compelling negative reason to go through the effort to switch.

No fees currently due to my balance. There is an actual branch near me in Minnesota, but their local ATM network is kind of sad, since I guess this is a newer market for them. Luckily I don't pull too much cash out.

I've never been overly thrilled or overly mad at BoA, but at the same time I don't know if any other large corporate banks are truly any better or worse than BoA. Kind of worried if I switch over to another big entity I'll have the same issues.

I started my banking career with a local employer credit union (my Dad's) decades ago so I know that smaller institutions can be great but also have their own challenges sometimes.

Where are good places to look for reviews of different financial institutions?

What I need: a local Twin Cities Minnesota branch because I prefer talking to a human for opening accounts and such, normal checking/savings/credit card, need a HYSA for 1-3 years, future needs for car loan (whenever mine dies) and hopefully a home loan (in 1-3 years)

Current affinities: Minnesota resident, USAA member (no open accounts and I don't really have a positive view of them right now), probably eligible for Navy Federal too, nothing linked with my employer I'm aware of but my retirement accounts are with Fidelity

Bonus question: I have money that needs to go into an HYSA sooner than later because I'm losing money in interest by waffling about this decision, would it benefit me to have it an HYSA in the same bank where I do my major business or should I not care and just find the highest interest? I may just throw it in Fidelity because I'm used to dealing with them, but if the balance can help save me bank fees for the same interest rate that would make more sense.

Might be a tough budget at $1,000, may be willing to go over somewhat but just not psychologically ready to spend $1,500-2000 yet (but may have to).

- Open to used/refurb/prior year models. Do not need bleeding edge tech.

- Last laptop was a several years old MSI that finally gave up the ghost due to motherboard damage. Wish I could have just replaced the motherboard but the quote was not worth it.

- Last heavy utilization games I played were Baldurs Gate and Cyberpunk 2077, although I'm honestly dying to fire up Civilization. LOL Will also be my primary home laptop.

- Do not care how large it is, this will not be taken around anywhere, my old 17" MSI was a beloved tank.

- Vanity wishlist: RGB keyboard lighting, larger monitor the better (last was 17"), large keyboard with 10-key, better screen quality/sound, black chassis (no grey or white or pastels if I can avoid it)

- Prefer to patronize MicroCenter over online or BB but money is money.

Any recommendations on older models that I should keep an eye out for?

What time of year do they have more sales? I'm willing to wait a few months but not all the way until Black Friday.