Dr. Turek's Blog

Can You Be Allergic to Your Sperm?

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

They sat in front of me, notes in hand, having read all they could, and looking somewhat concerned. “We read that vasectomy reversals don’t work because of antibodies that men make to their sperm. Is this true?” Don the Immunology Hat Practically speaking, the world’s first immunologist was the formidable warlord King Mithridates VI of […]

How to Impress Her on Valentine’s Day

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

You asked her for a date on Valentine’s Day. Now what? You really want to impress her. Dinner and a movie? A dinner show? Just dinner? A ball game? Hot tubbing or a spa? Karaoke? Salsa dancing? Split some chocolate lava cake? The pressure is on. It must be perfect. What’s a guy to do? […]

Epigenetics: The Real Reason You Are Who You Are

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

You share 99.5% of your DNA with the person sitting next to you. In fact, you share 97.5% of your DNA with mice. And, believe it or not, 50% of banana DNA is identical to yours! So what makes you so special? Epigenetics. The New Plastics Remember the scene in “The Graduate” when the smug, older […]

Helping Wounded Veterans Live and Love

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

His kidney harbored a cancer and it needed to be removed. As a first-year surgeon-in-training, I was consenting him for surgery at the Veterans Hospital in Philadelphia. Unlike most patients, he was unusually calm as I talked him through the procedure and its potentially life-threatening complications. At one point, he gently put his hand on top of […]

A Good Year for Sperm

Posted on by TTC Team

You know about what happened to oil prices last year. And you know about the Paris and San Bernardino shootings. There was also the marriage equality ruling by the Supreme Court and the Baltimore protests. All newsworthy by any measure. But did you know that it was also a big year for sperm? What’s in […]

A Trip to the White House

Posted on by TTC Team

It was a “seminal” event, and by The White House invitation. The topic? The future of men’s health. Why are men medically underserved in America? What cultural factors are at play that we can change? Who should be involved? Seeds of Change An impressive array of stakeholders was present for the dialogue. Hats off to the […]

How to Help Men Live Longer

Posted on by TTC Team

He was desperate, despondent and depressed. Both his life and marriage were falling apart, literally unraveling right in front of him. He mustered the strength to reach out and seek help. And he was cured of his disease. Sounds like the “C” word, eh? Nope, he was cured of the “I” word: Infertility. Read it […]

Limericks on My Mind

Posted on by TTC Team

I’ve written a lot of limericks in my day. That’s what one listener called them, although they could simply be poems. But not the strict iambic pentameter kind. Much more relaxed than that. They are written about people who move me in some way and they typically pour forth the night before they are read. […]

Are Men an Endangered Species?

Posted on by TTC Team

How come men don’t live as long as women? Is it because they do things like big wave surfing, base jumping in squirrel suits or highlining between buildings? Maybe we have a testosterone-fueled, Evil Knievel gene within us, right next to the air guitar and channel surfing genes, and are simply destined to break 433 bones, […]

I Saved a Man and He Saved Me

Posted on by Paul Turek, MD

I learned something today. Something really important. About how to stick to your guns, how use your gut. About what it really means to be a doctor. And, what’s funny is that I didn’t have to cure a man of cancer to learn this, but simply rid him of pain. A tech engineer, he hailed […]