Hello Janet @jana59, welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I have small fiber peripheral neuropathy but it was diagnosed by a neurologist after a few tests and an exam. I have no medical background or training but I don't think a podiatrist has the ability to diagnose neuropathy. He can probably guess and tell you he thinks you have neuropathy but without specific tests like a punch biopsy or an Electromyography (EMG) I don't think he can provide a diagnosis. My question to the podiatrist would probably be the same question I asked my primary care doctor when my feet/toes started being tingly and numb. He told me it's probably nerve damage and I asked him how do you know? He said we can run some tests and I said if you run the tests and you determine it's nerve damage what can you do to fix it. He said nothing. That was 20+ years ago and so I let it go until a couple of years ago when I decided I wanted to know specifically what the diagnosis was. That's when my primary care doctor setup an appointment with a neurologist.

Here's an article on diagnosing Peripheral Neuropathy:
-- http://www.todaysgeriatricmedicine.com/archive/070912p14.shtml

Here's an easy to understand explanation of small fiber peripheral neuropathy by Matthew B. Jensen. Assistant Professor of Neurology, University of Wisconsin: https://youtu.be/8nrv7lRvvwU

Janet are you able to share a little more about your neuropathy symptoms?

John