That burning sensation in your toes and feet could be due to nerve damage from a diabetic related condition called peripheral neuropathy. Almost 50% of people with either type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes develop nerve damage. Peripheral neuropathy is the most likely outcome, affecting toes, feet, legs, hands, and arms.
What’s happening?
Over time nerves can become damaged and start causing this pain or burning sensation. As those nerves die, you will lose the feeling in that area.
Elevated blood sugar in diabetics is to blame for most of the nerve damage. Other risk factors include smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. All of these conditions will worsen the nerve damage. The longer you have been diabetic, the more likely that you will have to deal with neuropathy.
A Few Preventative Tips
- Keep blood sugar stable
- Maintain healthy cholesterol and triglycerides
- Keep an eye on your blood pressure
- Wear comfortable shoes or house slippers
- Get plenty of exercise
- Watch your weight
- Don’t smoke
- Always check your feet.
Life Insurance Options With Neuropathy
Life insurance for diabetics with neuropathy is still possible but definitely not easy. You will not want to try to do this alone. Without a diabetic life insurance specialist, your application for coverage will almost certainly be declined. We will need to identify the severity of the neuropathy and what level of treatment you are undergoing. Life insurance for diabetics with a mild case of neuropathy might not be a problem at all. Chances are we can still find you a great rate on a life insurance policy.
Underwriting Issues
Here are some of the underwriting issues associated with life insurance for diabetics with neuropathy. As of right now there aren’t any meds that will prevent or reverse neuropathy; they can only treat the symptoms. Most life insurance companies look at neuropathy as an indication of bad diabetic control. This makes getting life insurance for diabetics with neuropathy a little more difficult. Since the insurance company thinks that the diabetic has had issues (at least in the past) controlling their blood sugar levels.
Non-Med Options
The life insurance options for a diabetic with the complication of neuropathy are limited. For mild cases we still have a few full medical exam options. Other diabetic life insurance options would be to look for a company that will offer a policy without asking about neuropathy on the application. These are hard to find but available. As long as the company does not do a full medical exam with medical records you could still be approved for a non-med policy. These non-med life insurance policies are almost always more expensive than policies where a medical exam is required. You can still be approved for life insurance for a diabetic with neuropathy.
