I have idiopathic neuropathy, which basically means they can't find the cause for it. It started out as numbness,loss of sensation on the 1st 2 toes of the right foot. Then my left toes started getting the same thing. Saw a neurologist about it and he did diabetic testing and many other tests. All were normal. He diagnosed neuropathy. Was not painfull at the time, so no med RX. That was 2.5 years ago. Now both feet and halfway up my calf has loss of sensation. Total numbness in ball of foot. Have burning, tingling, pins and needles feeling, shooting pains throughout leg and now starting in fingers. Again, had more tests whith nothing being positive. Still have no answer why I have this. Now I take 1800 mg Gabapentin/day. It's a seizure med that helps with the nerves, blocking the pain. I also take narcotics for nights when it's really bad, as the nights are worse than the day. My story started the same as yours. I hope yours is as simple as a pinched nerve or something.
I used to have all sorts of tingling and numbness in my toes - for years. I have been seeing a chiropractor for 4 years and I have issues with my upper back neck and pelvis. Nothing extreme, but enough to cause dizziness, tingling, unsteady feeling etc. Since having chiro treatment, the tingling in my toes has completely gone away. I had all conventional checks to rule out anything else.
It sounds as if your toe may have a similar cause if you are in good health otherwise. The epidural can casue far worse I have heard!