Does "400 mg orally twice daily" mean "800 mg of drug per day"?
From a case report:
In addition, the authors started 5-hydroxytryptophan titrated to 400 mg orally twice daily with concomittant carbidopa 37.5 mg orally four times a day, and he responded with remission of suicidal ideation and significant improvement in depression and function.
Does "400 mg orally twice daily" translate into 800 mg of the drug per day, or does it mean "a total of 400 mg/day was divided into two daily doses"?
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Yes, and that the recommended interval for dosage is twice daily.
The convention for BID (twice daily) dosing is to write "400 mg twice daily" to indicate the dosage at each administration. Therefore it would be 400 mg + 400 mg = 800 mg total daily.
With some medications, the dosage is listed as daily total, divided into BID or TID dosing. For example, "1200 mg daily divided into BID or TID dosing" would be 600 mg twice daily, or 400 mg three times daily.
This entry for amoxicillin shows how it can be written both ways, though I have seen better wording in other references (like UpToDate or Epocrates but both require registration or paywall)
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