First AA meeting. Thank you for your support!

Congratulations to you for taking this first step to recovery.

To all of you who sought AA or another form of recovery (there are meds that can help if you need it), I'm proud of you! Please keep it up. I lost a dear friend who had WLS and struggled with transfer of addiction to alcohol in the beginning. She overcame it and seemed to be doing well. With Covid a lot of people lapse, go into depression, got anxiety etc. We lost her to ethanol poisoning (extremely lethal and probably more so in WLS) in May at only 51. They don't know where it came from or how she got it. I found out later I had purchased hand sanitizer made incorrectly and recalled with ethanol. So keep fighting. You got this!

Alcohol was my cross addiction and when my mother died I found an all too easy coping mechanism.

I tried IOP and AA but my goal was to return to normal drinking. After a year of literal hell with dry / binge cycles caused by Alcohol Depravation Effect, I stumbled upon The Sinclair Method.

I don't like to speak of it too highly for fear of ruining someone's sobriety; but for me, it's been a miracle.

The pharmacological extinction caused by the key component of the program: Naltrexone really does work.

Best of luck as you trudge the road of happy destiny.

I am two weeks into IOP and have attended two AA meetings. I've looked for a post-bariatric AA group but can't find one. I'd love a reference. The Sinclair Method is appealing but I have not been able to find someone to properly administer it.

Your IOP psychiatrist should be able to prescribe Naltrexone. I'd advise being a bit quiet as to why.

Keep going to AA with a sponsor at least through step 5. If TSM works better than abstinence you will eventually be in an odd cognitive dissonance around the desire to stop drinking.

TSM, The Sinclair Method will work, psychology treatment or not as long as you take the medication before choosing to drink.