Paul Turek, MD, Author at The Turek Clinic

Peeling Off the Layers of Sexual Dysfunction

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Paul Turek, MD

This Case of the Year is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic. A 13th century Franciscan friar named William of Occam proposed a way of thinking that is popular even today. Occam’s Razor states that simpler solutions are more likely to be correct than complex ones. Alternatively viewed, if one theory explains all observations, then […]

Is "Saving it Up" a Myth?

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Paul Turek, MD

She tells you that “it’s that time of the month,” which means that it’s baby-making time. You’ve been waiting for this and have duly refrained from sex or masturbation to stockpile the biggest quantity of sperm you can during her time of need. Is “saving up” sperm like retirement money a good idea? 401k Fund […]

The Slippery Truth About Lubricants During Conception

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Paul Turek, MD

Believe it or not, we know a lot about vaginal lubricants. Here are two statistics: 2 of 3 U.S. women use vaginal lubricants to help with dryness. And, among couples trying to conceive, 1 in 4 use lubricants. But aren’t lubricants bad for making babies? Toxic Lubes It’s quite clear that in the laboratory setting […]

Are the Sons of Infertile Men Also Infertile?

Posted on January 8, 2019 by Paul Turek, MD

There are certain questions in life that have never been answerable until now. For example, given that many human diseases are treatable, how long can we actually live? It took the jet age for us to figure out just how much g-force the human body can handle. And it’s only been a hundred years or […]

Can You Be Too Fit to Be Fertile?

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Paul Turek, MD

It’s well known that women athletes can stop having regular periods if they exercise too much. Termed “exercise-induced amenorrhea,” this prevents pregnancy during times of extreme physiological stress. Think of it as Darwin would: Why would you want to bear children as a cavewoman running for your life? Survival Comes First The mechanism for this […]

Want to be Fertile? Be the Best Man You Can

Posted on December 28, 2018 by Paul Turek, MD

We’ve known for a while now that, pound for pound, as a group, infertile men aren’t as healthy as fertile men. It started with research showing that infertile men have higher rates of cancer after infertility than fertile men. Then, it became clear that infertile men harbor more disease than fertile men. The latest data suggests […]

How Patients Teach Doctors a Thing or Two

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Paul Turek, MD

This Case of the Year is an actual patient of The Turek Clinic We can learn so much from those we meet. My patients teach me more about life and medicine than any book ever could. I think it was Bill Nye who said: “Everyone that you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” Up […]

Staying Connected Through the Storm of Infertility

Posted on December 14, 2018 by Paul Turek, MD

I am constantly impressed by the profound impact that infertility has on relationships. I’ve seen 15 years of family building effort end up in bankruptcy, failure and divorce as well as in healthy babies. The strain of being infertile can send a relationship spiraling faster than a lead balloon. Others, though, show incredible buoyancy, almost […]

The Smartphone Semen Analysis: Cool or Crazy?

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Paul Turek, MD

It’s amazing what you can do at home nowadays. Get a college degree, work a job, sell anything you own to someone half way around the world, garner YouTube fame, exercise along with hundreds of others, or self-publish a book. And now you can also analyze your sperm. Patient lab testing, otherwise known as “at-home” […]

Presidential Infertility Throughout American History

Posted on November 26, 2018 by Paul Turek, MD

Michelle Obama recently revealed in her book, Becoming, that she and President Obama were infertile. Both Malia and Sasha were conceived with IVF (in vitro fertilization) in the 1990s when IVF was only about two decades old. A hard story to tell (I’m sure) but an important one to hear from one of America’s most popular first […]