Those of us with fibromyalgia (FMS) are prone to several sleep disorders, and one of them – sleep apnea – can greatly increase our risk of serious health problems, including high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack and sudden death.
People with sleep apnea stop breathing for several seconds at a time while sleeping, and it’s not uncommon for us to do that hundreds of times a night. To get you breathing again, your body takes you out of deep sleep and sometimes wakes you up completely. In my sleep study, I slept for fewer than 5 hours, but I had 53 episodes of apnea. That means my sleep was disrupted, on average, about every 6 minutes.
http://chronicfatigue.about.com/b/2008/12/11/fibromyalgia-sleep-apnea.htm