A review by h_tappy
Wide Awake and Dreaming: A Memoir of Narcolepsy by Julie Flygare

5.0

I’ve never read a book and felt so completely seen. I was diagnosed with narcolepsy (without cataplexy) a little less than a year ago and have struggled to put into words so many little things Julie was able to articulate. The emotional exhaustion from dreams, grainy feeling behind your eyes when you know you need that nap, the trade offs between N symptoms and the side effects of pretty gnarly prescriptions, the weirdness at realizing what it feels like to not be crushed by exhaustion for a moment, opportunistically planning tasks based on if it’s a “good” day, the hallucinations and struggling to ground back to reality, all resonated with me to my very core. The emotional load I carry every single day (even with a much less severe case) is such a burden, and this book was a gift in reminding me of the resilience that burden creates. But it’s still exhausting and I’m already deeply in need of a nap so if you’re an ally, do your part to understand this burden so I can take a breather and find my next location for a discreet snooze.