PROBLEM: I Have Periodic Burning And Swelling In Different Toes

PROBLEM: I have periodic burning and swelling in different toes when weather turns cold. Painful to walk. Interestingly, it appears to have begun the year I placed "toe warmers" in my winter boots (only did this for a short time for one winter season). From that time on, I noticed every winter the tips of most toes get inflamed and swollen. Eventually a scab starts to form on the tip of the toes. By the time Spring arrives, the toes have already begun heir healing process and the problem literally disappears until the cold weather begins again.

I started wearing Merino Wool socks with another pair over them around the house during the winter, and stopped shoveling snow (which I love to do) to try to work on a solution to keep my feet at a more even temperature, which seemed to help. I noticed a change in that when my feet get too warm while wearing shoes for more than two hours, some toes start to burn, and get swollen, affecting my walking. Usually when this happens, once I take my shoes off, eventually in a few hours the swelling and burning disappear. However, today when this happened again after wearing shoes for approx. 4 hours, I noticed that removing the shoes did not improve the burning and swelling.

Health Information to help you:

I am a 72 yr old healthy female Italian and have lived in North Idaho for 16 yrs.
Received an excellent health report after physical from doctor (including blood tests) 3 months ago.
Do have arthritis in hands and feet. (I am not a diabetic.)
Take no prescription drugs - or over the counter drugs other than bio-identical hormones.
Eat healthy, and take supplements and do moderate exercise (tread mill)
Do not smoke or drink, a glass of wine ocassionally.
Have had cold hands and feet most of my life. Have not not been diagnosed with Reynaud’s syndrome
but have those symptoms (as my mother before me).
I apologize for being so detailed, but I thought it would help you analyze the problem faster. Thank you so much for this opportunity to seek your opinion.
Joy