Make sense of the instructions on your prescription, and sort them into the order of your day.
Add each medicine and pick the instruction you were actually given. We put them in the order they happen - we never decide the order for you.
These are general explanations of the phrases that appear on Indian prescriptions. They describe what the words normally mean - not what your medicine needs. Where your prescription says something different, your prescription wins.
| Instruction | What it generally means |
|---|---|
| Before food | On an empty stomach, commonly around 30-60 minutes before eating. The exact gap varies, so ask if yours doesn't say. |
| With food | During the meal or immediately after starting it. Usually advised where a medicine can upset an empty stomach. |
| After food | Shortly after finishing a meal, often within about half an hour. |
| Empty stomach | Well away from food in both directions - typically at least an hour before eating or two hours after. |
| At bedtime (HS) | Just before going to sleep, rather than at a fixed clock time. |
| Short form | From | Means |
|---|---|---|
| OD | omne in die | Once a day |
| BD / BID | bis in die | Twice a day |
| TDS / TID | ter die sumendum | Three times a day |
| QDS / QID | quater die sumendum | Four times a day |
| HS | hora somni | At bedtime |
| SOS | si opus sit | Only if needed |
| AC / PC | ante / post cibum | Before food / after food |
| STAT | statim | Immediately, once |
If the prescription is unreadable, if it doesn't say whether a medicine goes before or after food, if you've missed a dose and don't know whether to take it late, or if a new medicine has been added to existing ones - ask. A pharmacist will answer in a minute, and it is the one question a website genuinely cannot answer for you.
Prescriptions are written in a shorthand that nobody explains: "BD", "TDS", "before food", "at bedtime". The words are clear enough to a pharmacist and much less clear at home, which is how a medicine meant for an empty stomach ends up taken with breakfast.
This page does two things. It explains what those common instructions generally mean in practice, in plain language. And it lets you enter the instruction you were given for each of your medicines and sorts them into the order of a day, so you can see what comes first.
What it will not do is tell you when your particular medicine should be taken. That depends on the medicine, on you, and on everything else you're taking - which is exactly why it's a question for your doctor or pharmacist and not for a website. If your prescription doesn't say, ring the chemist and ask; they will tell you in under a minute.
As a general rule it means on an empty stomach - commonly about 30 to 60 minutes before eating. The exact gap can differ by medicine, so if your prescription doesn't state one, ask your pharmacist rather than assuming.
They're Latin abbreviations for how many times a day: OD is once daily, BD is twice daily, TDS is three times daily and QDS is four times daily. HS means at bedtime and SOS means only if needed. Your pharmacist will confirm what yours says.
No. We won't guess that, because getting it wrong matters. Your doctor or pharmacist decides it, and this page helps you organise what they've told you.
Ask your pharmacist or doctor. The right answer differs by medicine, and doubling up to catch up is not safe with everything.
A schedule is only as good as the day you actually follow it. DailyDawa sends each dose as a WhatsApp message at the time you've set - no app to install - and tells you if there's no reply, so you know a dose was missed before it becomes a problem.