Thyroid Nodules - Medications

Medications

Sometimes doctors treat thyroid nodules with thyroid-stimulating hormone suppression therapy (levothyroxine) to stop the body from making thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and prevent growth in the thyroid gland. Your doctor may recommend TSH suppression therapy if:

• You are not healthy enough to have surgery and you have thyroid cancer or a nodule that is suspected to be cancerous.
• You had surgery to remove part of your thyroid gland because of multiple thyroid nodules. Sometimes, TSH suppression therapy is used after surgery to help prevent your nodules from coming back.

Medication Choices

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy, such as levothyroxine sodium (for example, Synthroid, Levoxyl, or Levothroid), liothyronine sodium (for example, Cytomel), liotrix (Thyrolar), or desiccated thyroid (for example, Armour Thyroid)

What To Think About

It is not clear how well thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) suppression therapy works on noncancerous thyroid nodules. If you have a noncancerous nodule, talk to your doctor about whether TSH suppression therapy is right for you.

TSH suppression therapy can increase your risk of heart and bone problems, especially if you have heart disease or osteoporosis. If you have heart disease, this kind of medicine can make chest pain or problems with your heart rhythm worse. It can also increase your chances of heart attack. If you have osteoporosis, TSH suppression therapy can further weaken your bones.

TSH suppression therapy—even in low doses—often causes hyperthyroidism, especially if you have many thyroid nodules (multinodular goiter). Your doctor will regularly check to see how well your thyroid gland is working and adjust how much medicine you are taking in order to prevent hyperthyroidism.

If a nodule is noncancerous but is producing too much thyroid hormone, causing hyperthyroidism, antithyroid medicines may be used before radioactive iodine treatment. For more information on treating hyperthyroidism, see the topic Hyperthyroidism.