Latest / The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of / Dr. Cobble Q&A From September 30th, 2026

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Dr. Cobble Q&A From September 30th, 2026 · The Radio From Hell Show - Best Of

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Let's get his theme music going here and get him
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: on the phone.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: Michael Cobble, he's a certified medical professional. I've seen his diplomas.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: They're on the wall in his office. He's really proud
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: of them. He can answer your medical questions. Just, you know,
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: anything ailing you, anything, it hurts here and I don't
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: know what to do, or what do you think, or
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: does this look infected? Well, he can't answer that because
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: he's He's on the phone.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: You could describe it to him. Yeah, you could describe it.
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: And just any personal medical question you might want to tackle,
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: Michael Cobble, Dr.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Michael Cobble, can answer. Good morning, Dr. Cobble.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Gina, you certainly have a medical question.
• 0:45
  Speaker 5: Oh, Dr.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Cobble, I have an afrin problem. Uh-oh.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: Are you using it too much?
• 0:52
  Speaker 6: But it works.
• 0:55
  Speaker 4: It does work.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: She's addicted.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Is it really physically addictive?
• 1:02
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if you use it more than two or three days,
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: you're kind of hooked.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: Oh, Gina.
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: Because it creates a rebound effect, right?
• 1:11
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's short-acting, and then you get that rebound congestion,
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: and you have to use the Afrin to overcome that,
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: and then you're stuck.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I hate it.
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: You might... Yeah, you might be able to use pseudofedrin
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: and a nasal steroid for two or three days to
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: get through it. But, yeah.
• 1:31
  Speaker 5: I'm weaning myself off. That's my drug of choice. It's
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: nothing fun. It's Afrin is my drug of choice.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Demetra said that there's saline sprays.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, which is like instead of a nitty pot, you
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: don't have to pour it in your nose. You can
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: just spray it up your nose.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: And that actually.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: And then there's one I got at Costco that. That
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: you can use every day, and I forget what it is.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: It's not saline. Would you know what it is, Dr.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Cobble? Some other.
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: I don't.
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's some other. You can use it every day
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: if you need to, and it works. So we got
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: a call for Dr.
• 2:07
  Speaker 7: Cobble.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: All right, let's go to Danny.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Hello, Danny.
• 2:10
  Speaker 6: Hi, how's it going?
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Good, Danny. What's your question for the doctor?
• 2:16
  Speaker 6: So for three years now, I've been dealing with a
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: bulging disc in my lower back.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Oh, uh-oh.
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: All right. And I'm trying to just kind of avoid
• 2:27
  Speaker 6: surgery and go about it that way. And I would
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: say the pain is getting slightly better over the three years,
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: but I don't know. Maybe I should just go for surgery,
• 2:38
  Speaker 6: and I don't know if that's the right way to go.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 2:44
  Speaker 6: Or if there are other options for a lower.
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's worth seeing a back specialist. You know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: there are other things that would contribute, you know, your weight,
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: your age, other medical issues you might have. The fact
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: you've tolerated this for three years is pretty impressive. I
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: think if you're not having any bowel or bladder problems
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: or weakness of your lower extremities, you're not losing muscle
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: in your lower extremities, you might be able to manage
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: it conservatively like you have. A physical trainer could help. Again,
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: if you need to lose weight in the abdomen, that
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: can help. But I don't think it's unreasonable if you
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: haven't seen a specialist. See if an injection back there
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: or something like that.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Have you done any of that stuff? Oh, yeah.
• 3:31
  Speaker 6: I've done it all. The injection didn't take. The one
• 3:34
  Speaker 6: thing I haven't done is lose about 30 pounds, so...
• 3:38
  Speaker 6: That could definitely help.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: That would.
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: I'm just kind of worried about surgery.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I've had too many back surgeries myself, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: none of them have been a good time.
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think abdominal strengthening and weight loss, and like
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: I said, a physical trainer that specializes in back rehabilitation
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: could help a ton. I've had a fair number of
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: folks that were recommended surgery, and they lived through it,
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: and they've done really well without surgery.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: So try that, okay? Just stop eating. Stop eating. That's
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: your advice. Thank you. See you later.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: All right, Danny.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: Good luck.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Tammy's been holding on, so let's go to Tammy. Let's
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: get Tammy. Hi, Tammy. Tammy, you got a question?
• 4:24
  Speaker 8: I do.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, this is Dr. Cobble.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: This is our nicest listener. Tammy is the nicest person
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: on the earth.
• 4:35
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 4:38
  Speaker 8: Several years back, I had a lipoma on the left
• 4:41
  Speaker 8: side in my upper abdomen. I had surgery to get
• 4:45
  Speaker 8: it taken out because it was too deep for my
• 4:47
  Speaker 8: GP to do it in his office. Can they come
• 4:50
  Speaker 8: back or can they reoccur?
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Typically not, but most people have more than one lipoma.
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: So it's possible you had another one in a similar location,
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: but usually they are able to remove the whole one.
• 5:04
  Speaker 4: But A lipoma is just lipid adipose tissue, and some
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: people have 50, 100 of them. Other people have one
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: or two or three, but they are typically benign. It's
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: rare for those to be bad.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: And by adipose tissue, you mean it's fat.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Fat. Yeah. Yeah, but it doesn't mean that somebody's overweight.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: No.
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: Sometimes I'll see people, those will escalate if they've lost
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: a lot of weight or gained a lot of weight.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: Usually it's just fat tissue in the wrong spot. Mm-hmm.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: All right, that answers your question?
• 5:37
  Speaker 8: Yeah, but if it's causing me pain again, that means
• 5:39
  Speaker 8: I probably need to look at getting it removed?
• 5:43
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think if you're having pain or discomfort or
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: if it's grown rapidly, those are reasons to have surgery
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: and remove them. Most lipomas are not tender, but I
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: think if you're having pain or discomfort with it, I'd
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: see a general surgeon and have it removed.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 5:58
  Speaker 8: Okay, thank you.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Let us know how it goes.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Tammy.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: And ask the doctor if you can keep it. Let's see.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Dr. Cobble, here's a text question. What can I do
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: for bruised kidneys?
• 6:11
  Speaker 5: What?
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: Again, if you called in.
• 6:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I don't know. How do you bruise your kidneys?
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I guess if you're a boxer, that's the only thing.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: I can figure. I mean, I think if you're not,
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: you know, most bruises go away in two to three weeks.
• 6:26
  Speaker 4: I presume you. have a bruised kidney because you see
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: some blood in your urine. I would expect if it's
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: not black urine and you're not feeling sick or having
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: a fever, then that should resolve over a couple weeks.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: But most bruised kidneys would be from an injury, an accident,
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: or some kind of trauma.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: That's why they, in boxing, they outlawed kidney punching. They
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: see them going for the kidneys, they, you know, That's
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: a no-no in a boxing match.
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: That's why it's important.
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: Most people don't know you're a professional boxer.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: I used to be. I used to be a professional boxer, yeah.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: That's why it's important to call in so we can
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: ask follow-up questions like that.
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: I was a load weight boxer.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: You were a load.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: The load weight, yeah. Ben is here.
• 7:15
  Speaker 4: Hi, Ben.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Hi, Ben. Hey, guys.
• 7:18
  Speaker 7: So I got kind of a benign question, I should say.
• 7:21
  Speaker 7: I'm only like 25 years old. I work construction, operate
• 7:24
  Speaker 7: heavy equipment. And I'm like constantly staring at chrome on
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: all the machines and stuff. And I never wear sunglasses
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: because it makes my head hurt after a while when
• 7:33
  Speaker 7: I take them off because I'm constantly outside. So I
• 7:36
  Speaker 7: got a bunch of floaties in my eyes. So I'm
• 7:38
  Speaker 7: wondering like at what point, you know, when is that
• 7:42
  Speaker 7: an issue I should really look into, you know?
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Floaties?
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I have those.
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Everybody does.
• 7:49
  Speaker 7: I know everyone does, but it is kind of becoming
• 7:52
  Speaker 7: more than usual, I should say. I guess I just
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: don't know how much is too much, right?
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 7:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't think it's unreasonable to see an ophthalmologist,
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: an eye doctor, but you're high risk for cataracts over
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: time because the ultraviolet damage will, the lenses in your
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: eyes will get damaged just like the lenses in the
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: front of your car. So I do think if you
• 8:18
  Speaker 4: could find sunglasses that would work for you or maybe
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: a build cap that keeps the sun from hitting you
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: directly from above, I think that would be helpful. But
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: usually I don't see floaters that are a major problem
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: in 25-year-olds. I see it when people turn 45, 50,
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: and then cataracts typically at 50, 60, 70 or above,
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: unless you've been using steroids or steroid eye drops that
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: can escalate. cataracts in the eyes.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: What are, what are those floating things, Dr. Cobble?
• 8:49
  Speaker 4: Uh, just, just, uh, a little, just a viscous material
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: in the eyes that, um, sometimes coalesces and gives that little,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: you know, you see something a little floated.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: It looks like a fly.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: I always think it's a fly out of the core
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: of my eye.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Ben, it's, it's important to have, uh, sunglasses that are,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: you know, fit to your head.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: Is that, is that why they hurt your head? Because
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: you're talking about, you're just buying them off the, off
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: the shelf. They're, they're too tight or whatever.
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: Well, I think for a lot of it is just like,
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: because I'm constantly wearing them for so long throughout the day,
• 9:26
  Speaker 7: when I do take them off on like the weekends,
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: when I go golfing and stuff like that, it just,
• 9:30
  Speaker 7: you know, it gives me like headaches and stuff because I'm,
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: I'm used to like it being tinted when I do
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: wear sunglasses a lot, but when I don't wear them,
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: it just hurts, you know?
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: Hmm.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: If you were to.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Go to a place like Walcott and have them shaped
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: to your head, tell them the problem that you're having.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Go see an ophthalmologist first, but then go to a
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: specialty eyeglass place that can get them fitted just the
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: way that you need them.
• 9:58
  Speaker 4: Well, it sounds like it. mechanical problem or is it
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: more that you get sensitive to the sunlight?
• 10:03
  Speaker 7: Yeah, it's more so just like the sunlight. Maybe I'm
• 10:07
  Speaker 7: just buying bad glasses.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Spend some money, buddy. It's important. It really is.
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Buying them just off the shelf is not.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: The way to go. And you know what?
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: When I started buying inexpensive sunglasses, that's when I stopped
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: losing sunglasses.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
• 10:29
  Speaker 8: All right.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: All right, Ben, thank you.
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: Thanks, guys. Thank you. Good luck.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Let's see.
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I have a tingling stinging in the top of my
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: left foot.
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: Uh-oh.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Is that neuropathy or should I see a doctor?
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: Well, typically, yeah, that's a common example of neuropathy. I
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: don't know if you have a Morton's neuroma, but I
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: think seeing a podiatrist, a foot doctor is not unreasonable.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: It depends on how long you've had it. There are
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: other things that can cause the nerve to tingle or sting,
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: but I think a foot doctor, if it's bothering you
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: a lot, a foot doctor is reasonable to go see.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Uh, here's another question. Uh, do you have any recommendations
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: for pain associated with the air pressure changing?
• 11:16
  Speaker 5: Like on an airplane?
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Again, if they called, we could ask.
• 11:21
  Speaker 4: Yeah. Again, if it's driving up and down the Canyon
• 11:24
  Speaker 4: or a barometric pressure changes, um, sometimes Sudafed before you're
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: going to make the altitude change or a nasal steroid,
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: or maybe, um, Genus fallback, use Afrin.
• 11:37
  Speaker 6: See, it's good.
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: It helps things.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: I'm an Afrin apologist.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: I chew gum. That's what I do. I chew gum.
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: Gum works really well.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: You're an addict. I can quit any time I want.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: I only do Afrin socially.
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: All right. Here's a text question.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: My boyfriend's doctor put him on Prozac. He's having some
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: sexual side effects with it. Is that something that can
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: be treated, or do they have to change his medication?
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Prozac works really well for him otherwise.
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, the SSRIs have that risk maybe 5%
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: to 8% of the time. If the medicine's working really well,
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: sometimes lowering the dose, maybe cutting the dose in half,
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: if it still works effectively. The other option is switching
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: the fluoxetine Prozac to a different, different antidepressants. But first
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: I would start by trying to lower the dose.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, okay.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: But, yeah, I'd talk with the doctor about it. There
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: are a lot of other options for managing that.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: All right. Let's see, final question. Dr. Cobble, it sounds
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: like my favorite radio program is moving to four days
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: a week. What can I do to preserve my mental
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: health on days that it's no longer on? Well, we
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: can help with that.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: We will be on. The show will be on.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: There will be things here to entertain you that involve us.
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: We promise. Don't worry about it.
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Well, I think that's all the time that we have.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: All right. Dr. Cobble, thank you very much.
• 13:19
  Speaker 4: Yeah, thanks. Have a great week.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Thank you.