I think I have a strange relationship with alcohol. I drink very little compared with most people I know that drink. When I do drink its almost always only one beer. The strange part is about once a month I get a bad craving for beer. Sometimes I put it off for a couple days, but thre craving continue until I eventually go buy a six pack.
Once I buy the beer I feel better. Also I do not like the taste of beer. I will strugle to finish one beer then it will take one or two weeks to finish the six pack. Then again in several weeks it will start all over again.
I’ve heard people say it’s not whether you have (even crave) one drink, it’s whether you can stop after one drink. That doesn’t seem to be your problem.
The wanting something that tastes bad is probably unrelated. You seem to have control after you’ve had a drink. Of course, I am in no way capable of telling you one way or the other, if you’re more than just curious, you should go talk to a doctor or someone in AA or something.
That sounds does sound awfully odd. Is this sudden inexplicable beer craving causing you any problems in your life? If not I wouldn’t worry about it. The only negative consequences you seem to be suffering are about $8 a month. And then for some reason you drink something unpleasant.
You’re certainly not doing any harm to your liver if that’s all you’re drinking. It’s strange, but doesn’t seem harmful. Unless you’re leaving out the part where you go on a drunken rampage after choking down a beer…
ETA: I have occasional cravings for cheetos and mountain dew. It’s tasty at first… but then I have the rest of the bag to finish. My habit is probably no more harmful than yours.
I vote no. WAG: you’re missing some kind of nutrient (like B vitamins?) from your regular diet.
I am not an expert on alcoholism (though I drink way more than you) nor a nutritionist and strictly speaking those kind of questions aren’t really allowed here, AFAIK.
I would say it’s the nutritional deficit thing. Cravings are a way of your body to say “I need some of X.” I often crave red vegetables or ketchup. That’s when I know I need vitamin A.
To answer the OP, my vote is for an actual deficiency in your diet, too, or you just like something about a beer. Why don’t you just keep the six pack and drink one a month? Or maybe try a different source of malt and see if that’s what you’re craving.
And, shame on you for making me go look up beer cravings and have to read the ravings of pregnancy forums (“one sip will kill your baby!”).
Just to add, sometimes I have found that when I have a craving for a beer it is usually just plane old thirst and is cured with water. I however, like the taste of (good) beer, and I think it is just the association with it as refreshing. You mention you don’t even like the taste of beer though so this maybe isn’t the case in your situation. The deficiency theory sounds reasonable though.
I have a fair bit of experience with alcoholics, and generally alcoholic behavior goes far beyond what you describe, though admittedly it is a progression. The physical addiction to alcohol is something that takes a lot of time and effort - it is not like nicotine. Alcoholism is mostly behavioral, and involves a reliance on alcohol for emotional and psychological needs. The physical need only comes after much abuse. An alcoholic will struggle with their addiction long after the physical aspect is gone, which is pretty much after detox.
The dopamine cycle is the basis of addictive behaviors, google it for more information.
It’s not weird or alcoholic. In fact, a lot of things that people develop habits for are things for which they have the occasional craving for, but they choose to consume far more than they are actually craving. Someone may be craving a cigarette, be satisfied after a few puffs, but smoke the whole thing out of habit. Or crave a beer, but drink the whole six pack just to finish it off. Even just food - Americans often will eat much more than it takes just to feel full because they were taught to finish what’s on their plate. So indulge your occasional beers as long as you don’t drink more than you actually want, and you should be fine.
I think it’s a random nutritional brain-fart. Sometimes I crave hot dogs, overwhelmingly. It lasts days until I have one, then I no longer want any. This happens about once or twice a year, and has been going on for 30 years.
Hell no you’re not an alcoholic. If you had a once a month craving for chocolate, would you think you were a chocoholic?
I generally hate junk/snack food and have no sweet tooth. But once in a blue moon I really really fancy a burger or a bag of crisps or an ice cream. As soon as I’ve had some, I might feel a bit queezy or repulsed, but that hardly gives me a junk food problem.
There’s so many things in life to worry about. Having the odd craving for a beer really isn’t one of them.
This strikes me as quite an American attitude to alcohol - I want beer, therefore I must be an alcoholic. Really, you’re not.
The simplest definition of an alcoholic is if alcohol causes (bad) consequences. That is you get drunk and get into fights, drive drunk, miss work, etc. Or your need to drink causes bad consequences. It doesn’t sound like you fit this definition.
Nonsense. There are plenty of really good American beers, you just have to avoid the big cheap national brands (Bud, Miller, et al.) There’s a good number of premium beers you can find anywhere in the US (Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada for example). And just about anywhere you go, you can find regional breweries and craft breweries ranging from decent to amazing.
Heck, if the OP wants, we can try to figure out some better tasting recommendations. You may think you hate the taste of beer, but that might be because you’ve only had skunky PBR.
I vote “not an alcoholic” as well. But I’m curious about this:
Do you mean this literally, or do you mean you feel better once you drink the beer? Because if the act of simply purchasing beer satifies your craving, then something strange may indeed be going on here.
Note: I am not trying to be sarcastic or attack the OP’s choice of words. This phrase stuck out to me, and I’d seriously like to get a clarification, because it could be quite interesting if meant literally.
Alcoholic - no. Hypochondriac - probably. Jewish or Lutheran – if not you should be. The knee jerk guilt response would of course go well with Catholic also, but if you were Catholic you would be an alcoholic, and we have firmly established that you are not.
I don’t buy the B vitamin theory. You don’t get many B vitamins from beer. Most of the B vitamins are in the yeast, which gets filtered out, notwithstanding the unfiltered cloudy yeast slurry beers, which may give you some B vitamins. However, ethanol interferes with the absorption of many B vitamins. In fact, B vitamin deficiency is one of the problems alcoholics – real alcoholics – have to deal with. If it were B vitamins you were after you’d be more likely to crave liver and fava beans. And then we really would have something to worry about.
IMHO, the reason you crave a monthly beer is because the small dose of alcohol therein relaxes you a bit and slightly lessens the worries that it is your proclivity to foist upon yourself. Of course, you promptly found something to worry about in that, too.
You’re not an alcoholic. You’re just neurotic. Like everyone else.
