When I was five years old my father was committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital. He had become increasingly stressed and depressed because he couldn’t find work to support his family. I grew up wondering what happened to my father and whether I inherited his “mental illness.” I talk about my healing journey in my...Continue reading
The Case of the Month is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic They sat down in front of me, both a little giddy about the idea of having another child. “I have boys and she has one too. We’d like to have one more, hopefully a girl,” he said. She nodded in agreement. They were...Continue reading
When you hear two different stories, which do you believe? Well that depends. Typically, we use 4 kinds of information to help us to decide what to think: intuition (gut feeling), source authority, logic and evidence. Now the story: Boxers are better than briefs for your fertility. Believe it? Intuition and logic suggest that the...Continue reading
Artificial intelligence (AI) is on fire right now. But AI is by no means new. The concept was coined 60 years ago by John McCarthy who defined it as “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines.” And there’s been some impressive AI successes since then. Remember when IBM’s Deep Blue beat world chess champion Gary Kasparov...Continue reading
The six weeks encompassing Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s—collectively called “the holidays”—are for most a magically unique time of year, filled with holiday carols, reunions, displays of colorful lights, love, and affection, often expressed through gift giving. But for some, the holidays bring hurt. Caused by factors including the weather, separation, death, stress, unrealistic expectations,...Continue reading
Ever wonder about the future fertility of children born with birth defects? As a urologist, I’ve treated hundreds of boys with two common birth defects: undescended testicles and hypospadias. Throughout my career, it’s been hard to address the question of a boy’s future fertility with these conditions. Until now. Missing in Action Birth defects occur in 3% of U.S. newborns....Continue reading
For more than 40 years I have been sharing my expertise about men’s health. As professions go, it’s a pretty good one. Everything I learn, I share with others through popular books like Surviving Male Menopause, The Irritable Male Syndrome, Stress Relief for Men, and my most recent book, My Distant Dad: Healing the Family Father Wound. (You can...Continue reading
It’s an interesting time to be a man in America. While the progressive and evolving tone of gender equity has focused on women’s rights and empowerment in recent years, lost among the headlines about the #MeToo Movement, women’s equity and rights are the realities facing men in this country who are increasingly taking on more...Continue reading
Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Spoiled for choice. How do you decide which path to take to have children after a vasectomy? Do you do a vasectomy reversal or undergo a sperm retrieval and assisted reproduction (IVF-ICSI). Stuck between a pillow and a soft place now becomes a pillow and a laboratory. Analysis...Continue reading
It’s flu season. And you’re trying to conceive or maybe you’re pregnant. Should you get a flu shot? For those of you who never get the flu, here is the modern definition: A terrible sickness where you feel like you shouldn’t be able to walk, but somehow you can. For about a week, everything is...Continue reading