A Moment I’ll Cherish Forever: Meeting my Representative Adam Schiff

On Tuesday, Feb. 10th, I had the opportunity to meet my Representative, Congressman Adam Schiff and thank him in-person for championing the sleep community priorities in Congress for the past three years. I was in Washington, DC for Project Sleep and the Sleep Research Society’s February Hill Day on Monday, Feb. 9th. See our event…

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Exciting News! Giving a TEDx Talk in San Diego

SO beyond excited to share this news: I’ll speak at TEDxSDSU on March 22, 2020 in San Diego, CA! Giving a TEDx talk has been a major life goal for about 7 years now, when i put it in my art journal as one of my major aspirations. And I’ve applied to many over the…

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“I will change how I treat my patients because of your talk.”

Last month, I gave one of my favorite presentations at the 10th Biennial Pediatric Sleep Medicine Conference hosted by my alma mater, Brown University. My “TED-style talk” had two key messages: Prescribing social support to people with narcolepsy, Partnering with patients, patient leaders and organizations to develop patient-centered research toward recognizing and addressing stigma. I’d spent…

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Celebrating 10 years of the REM Runner Blog!

Ten years ago today, I came out as a person with narcolepsy. On November 10, 2009, I started this REM Runner blog, disclosing on the internet for the first time that: “Hi! I’m Julie Flygare, a person living with narcolepsy with cataplexy.”  From my original About Me:  “Narcolepsy has changed my life for better and…

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Listen Now: Social Experience of Narcolepsy on Sleep Junkies Podcast

“I remember keeping [my narcolepsy] private and always feeling like it was this thing sitting at the back of my throat that I wanted to share, but just stopping myself, remembering ‘you’ll get a bad reaction, this person won’t understand.’”   – Julie Flygare, Sleep Junkies podcast  “So you went from something being a secret to the…

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Taking a “Sick Day” with Narcolepsy

When working in traditional offices, I struggled with “sick days.” I didn’t often get colds or flus. I just dealt with my narcolepsy with cataplexy, which was fairly stable and “well-managed” by the time I took these jobs. Yet narcolepsy was still with me every day, to varying degrees — from minor annoyance to extreme…

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It’s Almost World Narcolepsy Day, Are You Ready?

The week leading up to World Narcolepsy Day has quickly become one of the most surreal weeks of my life! I’m already speechless seeing the photos, articles, videos and radio segments from around the globe honoring World Narcolepsy Day. World Narcolepsy Day Activities: I will travel to Vancouver, Canada tomorrow to celebrate World Narcolepsy Day…

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Living One-Third of My Life with Narcolepsy

Twelve years ago today, I was diagnosed with a classic case of type 1 narcolepsy with cataplexy, just four days after my 24th birthday. So as of today, four days after my 36th birthday, I’ve now spent one-third of my life officially as a “person with narcolepsy” (not counting the years of symptoms before diagnosis). For fun today,…

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