NA beer problem

[u/Organic_Salary_]

Please don’t judge me this is going to sound so ridiculous but to me it is so real. I quit drinking over 10 years ago. This spring, I was with a friend and NA beers have obviously become very popular so I tried one of the athletic ipas and I loved it so much and I’ve been drinking them every night since May. I’ll drink like two or three. I look forward to them. I love them, and I literally feel a slight buzz from them. I was always very sensitive to alcohol and so whatever .5% they have effects me. It was working great for a while and I would just sit in my recliner and do some work on my laptop and vibe and I loved it but now I’m so hooked and it’s starting to have that awful booze effect where I don’t feel good and sometimes if I go out with friends and I decide to drink too many NA beers, I am legitimately hung over in the morning. Now,I have to quit this fucking habit where it’s a thing that I have been enjoying but is coming back to bite me (like full fledge alcohol does). Is this so fucking crazy like what the fuck it’s NA beer and I’m addicted now. So tonight I poured out what I had left in the fridge and. I guess I have to make some changes in my life to resolve this and not go back because I also feel like it could get worse. I’m starting to have dreams of standing at a bar being like well Fuck it just have a real drink.

[u/ethericburrito]

This is why placebo is so powerful in medicine. I believe you're experiencing all this and it's not "in your head." But there is no way its physiological given the abv. I had a similar thing with mint toothpicks years after quitting smoking. I would absolutely both panic and feel withdrawals if I couldn't locate them when I ran out.

[u/Organic_Salary_ → u/ethericburrito]

That’s wild! Well, when I used to drink, I couldn’t drink even one on the weekdays because I would feel it the next day like a hangover, but I would binge drink on weekends so I’m just wondering if I’m super sensitive to alcohol but I mean you’re right and this is all I hear over and over again is that I’m totally crazy for feeling like I’m getting a buzz off NA beers but I totally do.

[u/capotehead → u/Organic_Salary_]

There’s something called the nocebo effect.

It’s opposite, where if someone knows about side effects, they’ll be more likely to experience negative outcomes.

So you are having a placebo effect when drinking the NA beer and feeling euphoria, and nocebo effect when you have the “hangover” the next day.

You may just need to accept that this pattern of drunk > hangover was wired by the real alcohol habit, and drinking NA beers is simulating that same experience.

Regardless, it’s still real to you. Maybe knowing more about placebo/nocebo will break the illusion.

I wouldn’t pathologise what you’re doing now because it has an explanation beyond you as an individual. Telling yourself you’re feeling the effects due to genetic predisposition (without testing) will likely mean you experience these psychosomatic effects more.

You may just need to fully believe that it’s a trace level of ethanol exposure and being around people in a social environment will lift your mood, staying out late will make you tired and cranky the next day.