From the time we’re little, we’re taught that big boys don’t cry and told that when times get tough, we just need to “man up.” The message is so strong that even a baby could figure it out (and plenty do): boys shouldn’t cry. Put a different way, boys–and later, men–need to be tough. “Real”...Continue reading
Category: Growing Up
7 Tips for New (and Not-So-New) Dads About Kids’ Health
Just a few months ago, my brother welcomed his newborn son to the world. Imagine the differences between his experience and the experience my own father had when we were born. Case in point: When my mom was delivering me in the hospital, my dad had no idea how to help during labor. Flustered and...Continue reading
Am I Enough?
The case of the month is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic. He hailed from the Middle East. He cut a striking figure, in a Laurence Olivier kind of way. As a young doctor in his final years of training as a heart surgeon, he had issues with his “stuff.” Quite a few. Six...Continue reading
Late Life Sex
He was an elegant man in his late-80s and he came to see me for help. Widowed for 20 years, he recently met a younger woman; she was in her 70’s. He hadn’t had a sex life for many years and also noted “erection issues” for during that time. Still Dreaming “I would really like...Continue reading
Are New Fathers Fatter?
“It’s not about me anymore, is it Doc?” I hear this all the time from men I helped to become new Dads. New responsibility, new priorities, new love. Maybe that’s why having children has been called one of few “vertical moves” in life. While fatherhood changes many a life, it’s also no bed of roses....Continue reading
Size Really Does Matter… A Lot!
Ask a woman how many irregular periods she’ll have before she gets concerned or gets medical help. The answer is two, or maybe three at most. That fast. Do men have a similar barometer of health? Honestly, what besides pain or a threat-to-life brings young men to medical care? Answer: Not much. A Hard Example Nothing...Continue reading
Manorexia: The Masculine Side of Body Image Distortion
In the U.S., at least a third of the 30 million people suffering from eating disorders are boys or men, according to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). That’s 10 million people, most of whom won’t ever get the help they desperately need because they have a Y chromosome. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is...Continue reading
Lessons of a Sibling of Autism: My Brother Tyler
What does it really mean to be a sibling of autism? To wake up each and every day knowing that someone in your family is different, abnormal, weird. It’s a question I’ve spent most of the last 12 years trying to answer. My brother Tyler (b. 1998) was diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) in...Continue reading
5 Things That Campfires Teach Us
Just spent the week camping in Yellowstone Park with the family. Great big Wyoming skies, musky forest trails, spectacular Rocky mountain vistas, thunderclap-filled rain storms and, of course, campfires. Fire Light There’s a real science to campfires. Whether you prefer tipi, lean to, log cabin, Swedish fire torch or Finnish style, master campfire makers require only...Continue reading
Young Men Get Prostate Cancer Too
Prostate cancer, aka the “silent killer”, has always been known as an older man’s disease. Being the second most common cancer among men in the United States, prostate cancer occurs mainly in older men. The average age of diagnosis is about 66, and about six in ten prostate cancer cases are diagnosed in men age...Continue reading