numbness in big toes

I am a 27 year old female who has numbness in both of her big toes for at least six years. The numbness is on the outsides of both my big toes and lately there has been some tingling and I feel it may be getting worse. My past work history included the military which caused a lot of damage to my feet (i.e., fallen arches, tendinitis, heel spurs, stress fractures, frostnip, blisters...). So much damage has been done to my feet that I am no longer able to wear heels without pain. I went to a doctor about the time the numbness started and she sent me to a podiatrist who told me that I had a serious case of ingrown toenails. He cut the left side of my nail on my right big toe and the right side of my nail on my left big toe and told me to take something like vitamin B to keep the nail from growing back and a tylenol codeine 2 for the pain. I ended up having an allergic reaction to the medicine (to this day I have no idea which one did it because I took both medications at the same time like he prescribed) and had to stop taking it. The intensity of the numbness did subsided but came back to full strength 3 years later. I am not a diabetic and besides a few minor aches and pains, I am relatively healthy. I have been hesitant about seeing another podiatrist since he didn't really fix the problem. I have been doing some investigation of my own and could find nothing that can explain why my toes are like this. Can anyone please tell me what might be my problem and if I should return to see a podiatrist?

[FootDoc]

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Nothing that you have related about your feet is generally consistent with a cause of numbness. The cause of decreased sensory perception is often a difficult matter to diagnose. Most often, when such sensory deficits are, as you report, bilateral, one must look at either remote nerve pathology which might effect both sides of an extremity or biochemical and/or disease causes. This cannot be done without a direct hands-on physical examination which includes an exhaustive history and often nerve testing. I would recommending starting off with your general physician who could supply you with a general assessment of medical issues which could be connected with numbness, and a neurologist who could evaluate and test the areas of numbness, and perhaps supply you with the answers you desire. Do not have tunnel vision in your history revealations which limits the cause of your present complaint to your past foot experiences and problems.

[FootDoc]

One additional thought . . You might take a look at your shoes to see if they are perhaps causing impingement of the same nerve on both feet causing a similar sensory deficit in each foot.

Thank you! My only reason for believing that my previous foot injuries caused my numbness was because it appeared around the time of those injuries.

Hi,
I googled my problem and you're post came up as it is the same condition as I have. I am the same age as you also. Have you been to your GP? If so what did they say and have you got an answer? I'm getting increasingly worried about this now and want to know what it is. I'm worried that no one will take me seriously!

I've been having numbness on both sides of my big toes. I started noticing this about 6 months ago and it hasn't spread. I have no idea what is wrong! I'm 26, had a baby 15 months ago and passed my gestational diabetes test and had several blood tests throughout my pregnancy that didn't show any sign of diabetes. Every thing I research online always says it might be diabetes. I did throw out my back about 10 months ago, but all is fine now....I've also read that a pinched nerve in the back could cause the numbness.

Did you ever find out what was wrong with your toes??