I have gone back to school - I am really, really anal about doing my school work (Have a 4.0 GPA so it is working) Figured it is a healthy cross-addiction that will also have additional pay-offs besides helping me not drink.

HA!  Could you imagine the both of us???  LOLOL

I challenge you to a DUEL!

After my first night not having a drink and realizing it was a lot harder then I thought it would be I know I need to control myself.  Question is, I am happy in life, content, so why am I doing this?  What causes a substitute addiction?

For me, it escalated, just like you.  It started out to be not a big deal; a little now and then.  Then I drank a glass or two of wine every night.  That eventually progressed to the point where I not only drank daily, but I once I started, I could not stop.  I got to the point where I would drin****il I blacked out every time (not the same as passing out).  I simply could not remember what I did or said.  I became terrified that I would drive and kill myself or someone else.  I lost a brother to alcoholism 10 years ago and couldn't understand why he couldn't just stop...until it afflicted me after WLS.  Now, I understand.  It is a progressive disease that got triggered after surgery and once the switch is thrown..it can NEVER be unthrown.  Ever.  I am now and will always be an alcoholic.  It really angered me for a couple of years but once I accepted the hard truth, I went to an AA meeting and have been sober for two years now.  I hope you are safe and sound. 
You will know you are alcoholic when you start behaving in a manner that "normal" people don't.  (Are you hiding your drinks, substituting beer for liquor, trying to "control" your drinking, only drink on weekends, and other deals with the devil).

I never had a problem prior to surgery.  I drank socially for 30 years and would go months without drinking before WLS.  It wasn't until after the surgery that the problem began.  I was so shocked.  I just couldn't believe it.  I sure do now.

Good Luck

WOW.........Ive neve been here before. I didnt know we had this forum.

First alittle background on meself:
I had RNY in Jan of '06. All went well the first few months. Then by about May things started going haywire. Dropping weight became my #1 goal. Thus I turned to starving myself. By summer I was drinking vodka. When my 1 year came around I was binge/purging, depressed and drinking a 5th of vodka a day. By the summer of 2007 I wanted to die. I was admitted into a treatment center for suicidal tendencies and a driking problem. I came out of my depression quickly but I found I will always struggle with food and drinking.

Now:
Ive been sober since April 5th 2008. A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant. I stopped drinking and I ate what I wanted. Now my daughter is 6 weeks old and Im struggling. I think about vodka to often and food is my obsession again. I feel like this cycle will never end!

Treatment is not available to me at this time, I have no insurance. My family doesnt understand. They think I should just suck it up and snap out of it. I dont want to go back to the person I was then. But Im scared thats where Im headed.

Kristi