# Pros and Cons of intramuscular insulin injections?

**URL:** <https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/pros-and-cons-of-intramuscular-insulin-injections/6372>\
**Category:** Treatment\
**Tags:** insulin, intramuscular\
**Created:** [February 1, 2019, 1:28am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/pros-and-cons-of-intramuscular-insulin-injections/6372 "2019-02-01T01:28:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

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**Author:** ![Michel](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex030/user_avatar/forum.fudiabetes.org/michel/32/387_2.png) [@Michel](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/u/Michel)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 8:32am UTC](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/pros-and-cons-of-intramuscular-insulin-injections/6372/7 "2019-02-01T08:32:42Z")

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For us IM is faster and also “more insulin”: you get a stronger effect than subcutaneous. So, theoretically you should use less if you were sure it would work as an IM.

But—I a recent IM thread here on FUD, most participants also wrote that the IM effect was not totally reliable: sometimes it works, sometimes not. For us, we use 12.7 mm needles for IM, and out success rate is about 50%. We use thigh and calf, and run for 5 minutes after injection.

> [@MM2](#):
>
> was thinking IM was both in and out quicker, lower peak.

@MM2, do you mean less insulin tail? It is very possible, but we never thought of measuring ☹

Note: the IM thread I mentioned above is here:

[IM insulin injections: what techniques work best for you?](https://forum.fudiabetes.org/t/im-insulin-injections-what-techniques-work-best-for-you/5660)

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