Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I had total thyroidectomy in 1992.  My labs have been great since. About 1/1/2 years ago my dr reducedmy medication because Im in my 60s now. He said it can be hard on the heart as we age.  My latest tsh was2.0 which is much higher than before and I have gained about 15 lbs in the last year.  Should I be concerned about return of papillary cancer? thank you
[|AI|]  Hello;After total thyroidectomy patient can be placed under TSH suppression or thyroid replacement therapy. TSH suppression therapy involves giving higher dose of thyroxine medication so that TSH level is very low(less than 0.5mU/L). When amount of TSH in your body is low, your thyroid gland stops growing as well as tumor. However, TSH suppression has unwanted effects especially on heart and bone and risk increases as your age increase. Moreover people having low risk disease do not benefit mush from TSH suppression therapy. So your doctor have shifted from suppression to replacement. In this you take lower amount of thyroxine medication, as a replacement of natural thyroid hormone so that your TSH is in normal range. You need to take thyroxine because your thyroid gland was removed. You should visit your doctor periodically and there is no need to worry about TSH level. Regards