Numb Big Toe

Remember Mad Comic books ...

by donr - 2016-08-03 07:44:45

...from way back when?  They had a parody of some vampire that was using a hand paper punch to put a hole in the Big Toe of its victims & suck their blood from there.  Have you looked at your toe for holes in the top of the nail?  Been feeling a little anemic lately?

Thought I'd start out w/ the weird to match the subject.  Sure you can make this stuff up.  If I don't know the answer, I make them up - all the time!

Go to the following Wikipedia entry via Google:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjAnMuQgaXOAhVGKyYKHan4B1oQFggcMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMedial_plantar_nerve&usg=AFQjCNE5F17gkBQrdvoL4sua4plqCcPv-Q

Look at all the nerves that supply the Big Toe.  Then start thinking of the analogy between carpal tunnel & what is hapening to you toe.  Just like the nerves that supply the hand, there are a bunch of them that supply the foot & its digits (note the technical terminology for those funny looking things that stick off the front of the foot & wiggle.)  Note that a bunch of those nerves run along the UNDERSIDE of the foot - the plantar nerves.  

Now close your eyes & have your husband (Can he be trusted to NOT tickle you while doing it?) examine the surface of the big toe w/ the end of an opened up paperclip to determine EXACTLY where your toe is numb.  That's what a hand guy used to determine exactly where my fingers were numb several months ago to diagnose the severity of my carpal problem. 

Note from the Wiki article where the various nerve branches go on the toes.  the two sides of the big toe are served by different nerves, as are the bottom & top.  When you narrow it down to a specidic area of the toe, look at the diagram of the nerve supply & figure out which nerve it is.

Then trace along the path & see if there is a spot where something is pressing on that nerve.  There are a gazillion places where those 7" spike heels you wear could be doing it - or maybe the jeweled flip-flops you wear to formal events in the White House?

Do youmaybe have the beginning of a problem w/ a bunion on that foot - there is a branch of nerve that runs up & over that joint.  How about a whopping callus on the bottom of the foot?  that could be putting pressure on the offending nerve.

The next chapter of this saga will be entitled "Do it yourself surgery on the plantar surface of the foot."

Cheers!

Don

actually...

by Cabg Patch - 2016-08-03 12:55:57

I enjoy nerve damage from an agressive Electrophysiologist and just one of the nice side effects is numbness in my toes on the right foot. Say that's my accelerator foot, wonder if the next time I'm stopped for speeding the cop will accept I can't feel the pedal due to heart surgery? Anyway, Concensus of the medical community is that the surgeon damaged the nerve bundle in the neck.

Just came back from P/T

by Grateful Heart - 2016-08-03 16:28:46

A couple of weeks ago I asked the Physical Therapist about the numbness in my toe.  She said she didn't know.  Today, I figured I'd give it another shot (persistence) and asked the chief P/T guy.  Bingo....It's exactly what Patch said.  Sorry you have it too Patch.

He grabbed a chart of the human body showing the nerves.  He said the L4 L5 goes all the way down to your big toe.  I have 3 bulging discs with those 2 included as well as spinal stenosis.  He said it can take 12-18 months for it to improve.  I had a nerve block shot 2 months ago so I am not sure if that means the problem is slowly coming back.  

Don:  I went to the Wiki link you provided and they wanted a donation first.....so I gave them your name and credit card info.  They said thanks for the donation!!

Grateful Heart 

Donations

by donr - 2016-08-04 00:00:16

I guess that means I've doubled my contribution to Wiki, then.

I had to donate the first time I went in there.

Figured that I was not going to let you get away scott free, so in a fit of fair generosity, I went to every congressional campaign in New York (Repub, Dem, Libertarian & Conservative) & used YOUR CC to give them $50 each.  The thank you notes should be rolling into your inbox any moment. 

Back to the topic in question:  Yeah, they always grab the spinal column & its nerves & blame them for every little twinge betrweeen the end of the digit's nail & the brain.  My L3-L6 area looks like a casket full of  hundred year old bones that have been shaken.  I've been lucky - no pain other than in the immediate lumbar area.  L-4 has been rotated, tilted & displaced to the right a noticable amount & they went in & ablated 8 small nerves that lie right along the spine to kill some of the pain.  I'm lucky, though that there is no other pain - like yours

Were I to look for a cause, I'd start w/ the simplest - the bottom of the foot & where al those nerves make therir final dash to the numb/painful point.  Rule that out first as the simplest explanatio, then go for the L-? area.

I had a messy auto accident in 2007 that caused some damage in the C-5/6 region that caused me numbness from the shoulder to the fingertips.  Immediately post accident & for several months, it was obvious what was causing the pain/tingling.

Slow Fwd to today  & I definitely have a carpal tunnel problem that causes some of the same symptoms in my fingers.  The only guy I can get to believe me when I say that some of it comes from C-5/6 is my chiropractor.  I can make the pain/tingling come & go w/i seconds if I hold my shoulders just right. 

Backs& limbs are dastardly little beasts.

Cheers!

Don

Forgot to Mention

by Grateful Heart - 2016-08-04 23:09:02

I told Wiki to feel free to add a bunch of zeros onto that donation.... on your behalf of course.

The thank you notes must have gotten lost along with the other 30,000+ emails on that infamous server....like I said, you can't make this stuff up, on either side this year.

Anyway, my trusted husband checked out my toe with a closed pen instead of an open paperclip and after a lot of laughs here's what we found:  when the pen brushed across the underside of the toe it felt like a string on a guitar springing back and there was tingling/ numbness.  The numbness is also across the very top and the topside of the toe.  It goes down to the sole of my foot.  I have no other problems with my feet...no bunions, etc.  I don't wear 7" heels, I have enough trouble walking.  We don't wear shoes in my house.  Don't know about feeling anemic.

Sorry you're having problems too.  The joys of aging.

Grateful Heart  

Check w/ Putin...

by donr - 2016-08-05 19:08:02

...he's got copies of the missing e-mails.

He offereed them to me, but my credit card is maxed out for some reason, & I could not make his price!

At least you know more precisely where the toe is numb now.  Note that some of the nerves collecting sensory info from that area travel down the top of the foot.  If you go barefoot a lot there's a chance that you are causing irritation between the heavy ligaments on the plantar surface & the bony structure above it.  The nerves travel through that area & could very well be irritated by that, just like carpal tunnel syndrome.  That is especially true if you have sore feet that make you walk in an abnormal way.

Don