I do IM shots frequently and although I am a pumper, I will do an IM shot if I go over 130. I use a pen for my IM shots, and I leave it out by my bedside in a case with pen needles and alcohol swabs. It uses NovoLog insulin cartridges and I usually dont need more than 1/2 -2 units of insulin for my corrections (yes, sometimes more!!!). I prime it before every injection too. It must be out sitting bedside for a good 4 months before I bother changing it. I have NEVER had a problem with its efficacy. The insulin seems to remain stable and it works just fine, as if it were fresh and new. I am certain I could probably leave it out there for a year without any problems. I used to throw out my insulin after a month, even when I did not need to finish the vial. What a darn waste!!! (of course, that was when I use to get dozens of free samples from my crazy endo so I didnt care much about the unreasonable cost of it) But I was told that this was necessary, and I believed it. That was then, and this is now 
@daisymae I note your use of the term IM, presuming intramuscular as the only other abbreviation I know is instant message. Do you actually do IM shots of insulin? I understood sub-cu was the norm. Just wandering and hopes of learning something.
Yes. If my BG goes above 130, I will not hesitate to take an Intra Muscular (IM) shot of insulin. It works faster and is out of your system within just 2 hours, as opposed to the typical 4 hours had with a sub-q. Its really effective and it helps keep IOB to a practically Zero amount.( I can bolus after 1.5 Hours, and know that I wonāt be doubling up on my insulin.) It doesnāt hurt much more than a sub-q shot, so no fears to b had there; it just goes a little deeper and you will need a longer needle (mine is around 18mm). I find that checking my BG frequently allows me to catch those nasty spikes and get them out of my system ASAP, so my A1c% can stay very low (currently 5%)
I encourage everyone to give it a tryā¦at least once. (and btw, it was Eric who taught me alll about them, naturally 
.
@daisymae Thanks for the info. Iāll have to consider it and have a conversation with my Endo. Donāt think sheāll be in favor of the IM route, she seems pretty conservative. Guess thatās where I, as my own advocate, have to decide what I want and find an Endo Iām in tune with.
My current concern is I regularly ādrift highā (from 90-130) and go to 180-200; happens particularly after dinner. Seems to start about an hour after eating. Iām not sure if I need to change my carb ratio and bolus higher, or if itās more on the basil side. Iāll stay relatively even overnight usually, but that may settle at 90-100 or 120-140 or 170-200. If itās in the higher realm, as soon as I get up it will start a steady decrease and when I bolus for breakfast (usually a two units for about 30 carbs), I can add one or two to bring BG down to a reasonable range. Have an Endo appt in two weeks and will discuss future efforts.
Just for reference, we have often had a different carb ratio for different meals, and that might indeed be your issue, or it could be basal. One way to check is to delay your dinner for 3 hours from the normal time and see what happens. If you stay flat your basal is good for that time period. At least every 6 months now (much more early on) we double check that our basal insulin dosing is correct for both breakfast and dinner. We always start by making sure the basal is dialed before messing around with meal ratioās.
On the endo front, you are unlikely to find an endo that recommends IM. With that being said, our endo wouldnāt recommend them, but they donāt discourage my son from using them. Longer than normal needles in your calf is all you need to play around with it.
I find that the easiest way to figure out if it is the carb ratio or the basal setting is to skip the meal and monitor the BGs closely. If you find that you are trending up despite not having eaten, then yo9u know its a basal thing. But, if you find that you are always trending up so unreasonably high post meal, then I would definitely be assured that it is your ICR. Easy enough to change with a little fiddling 
PS: I have a very progressive endo and CDE, so they know how manic I am about keeping my BGs tight. They even showed me the best way to do the IM injection! Iām so happy to have found them. I had a really lousy endo and CDE for years. Didnt learn much about my D until I joined FUD!
Best of luck to you 
Did you mean 8mm @daisymae?
To the best of my knowledge, no one manufactures an 18mm pen needle
Thanks to both @Chris and @daisymae for the suggestion on how to test the basal rate! Not sure Iām a fan of skipping a meal 
but need to sort it out.
Jim. My mistake. they are 12.7 mm (1/2 inch) OOPS. sorry bout that!
i also keep all insulin, pens and syringes in fridge because i reuse needles and like keeping them more steril in the cold
Nice job!
Does anyone have a sense of how long Lantus is good for in the fridge? I found some underneath my current insulin stash (clearing it out) that expired in 2017ā¦ I assume itās better than nothing but considering whether it would be worth even offering to anyone (we have local mutual aid groups Iād consider, as well as our friend who uses Lantus for her cat). Iāve never hesitated to use insulin thatās a bit expired, but I havenāt tried Lantus (which as I said above seems finickier than most) that old.
We have successfully used 1 year old expired Lantus, but never 4-5 years old.
I have used 3 year old Lantus that was refrigerated full time before use and it seemed 100% potent. Iām still saving some 2017 Lantus and Humalog in my fridge for a rainy day.
I had been holding on to some old Novolog for a rainy day, should I ever need it ā¦ I had like three (or was it four, five, six???) vials of insulin, three plus years past its date. Then I read a post from @Eric where he mentioned how it lasts forever. I decided to try it then, knowing I had much newer stock I could replace it with, if it didnāt work. Iām glad I tried it. It worked very well and my stash has a visually more appealing use-by date!
Yeah if it were a short acting, Iād have no hesitation, those seem much more stable, but good to know that youāve had success with Lantus specifically, @John58 ! Will offer it to folks with the caveat to be vigilant to ensure itās at full potency. I think for some folks, even if itās not, still might be worth getting, given how expensive it is.
Iāve had bottles require larger doses later on although it hasnāt been particularly predictable.
@cardamom I posted somewhere around here recently my experience with 2013 expiration date Lantus ā it was underpowered. (I was curious) Am actually using 2018 expired Lantus right now and it is totally fine. Has been refrigerated consistently.