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According the the Pfizer Pharmaceutical company, you need to know certain information about each and every one of the drug prescriptions your doctor or healthcare professional writes for you. This information includes the name of the prescription, what the dosage is, when to take it, how often to take it, what to do if you miss a dose, how long to take it, what foods and beverages to avoid, what other medicines to avoid, what the side effects mightbe, why you are taking the prescription, where to store it, and whether to take it on an empty stomach or take it with food.
Your doctor or healthcare professional should tell you this information verbally as well as give you the information in writing so you can refer back to it later. However, there is a type of medical shorthand which is based on Latin words that they use when writing out your prescriptions. And unless you are familiar with this shorthand, it won't make much sense to you.
Some of the common symbols and words are:
ac- This stands for "ante cibum" which means "take before meals."
AP- This stands for "ante partum" which means "before childbirth."
aq- This stands for "water."
bis en die- This means "twice each day."
gt- This stands for "gutta" which means "drop."\
hs- This stands for "hora somni" which means "at bedtime."
mb- This stands for "misce bene" which means "mix well."
MDR- This stands for "minimum daily requirement."
per os- This means "by mouth."
pc- This stands for "post cibum" which means "after meals."
prn- This stands for "pro re nata" which means "as needed."
q3h- This stands for "quaque 3 hora" which means "every 3 hours."
qd- This stands for "quaque die" which means "every day."
qid- This stands for "quater in die" which means "four times a day."
Rx- This stands for "prescription."
T- This stands for "temperature."
tid- This stands for "ter in die" which means "three times a day."
ut dict- This stands for "ut dictum" which means "as directed."
There are two other Latin terms which are "oculus dexter" and "oculus sinister." These mean the right eye and the left eye respectively. Your doctor or healthcare professional might use these terms, but your ophthalmologist or eye doctor would be more likely to use these terms. The numbers he or she writes down for the prescription for your glasses is comprised of a series of symbols and numbers. The first set of numbers normally refers to your right eye. They are the sphere number, the cylinder number, and the axis number.These numbers have different meanings, yet they all refer to how nearsighted or farsighted your eyes are, and so on. These numbers tell the lens maker exactly how to craft your your glasses lens. That is, how curved your lens should be, and so on.
As you can see, your doctor or healthcare professional, or ophthalmologist is not trying to keep medical information from you. Rather, they see many patients in a day's time, and in order to save time, they use the medical world's own shorthand to write down your medical information.
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