Windyshores you are correct. Frequency, duration and I would add HR. When you get over a 100 BPM it becomes more dangerous. I alway carry with me Eliquis whenever I leave the house. I am one of those lucky ones that always feels when I go into Afib. The deal I have with my EP is anything shorter than 12 hours I take a 24 hour eliquis. Anything longer than that I take it for 30 days. I usually self-convert. I also have a blood clotting disorder called Factor V Leiden which increases the chance of a clot about the same amount as taking an oral contraceptive. The past 9 months have been rougher and I have had more frequent Afibs. (Ablation in 2019). They have been coming about every 3-5 weeks with duration of 1 hour to 3 days. My HR never goes above 80 BPM. I decided to take eliquis daily due to frequency of events. So far all my events have started when I was awake. But there is always the chance of of starting at night without me knowing when. My EP feels that anything longer that an hour risks the start of a clot formation. My brother ignored his butterflies for 9 days and ended up all but dead. He had multiple PEs in both lungs. The docs said it was a miracle he lived. I think majority of people are clueless about their medical care. They are not proactive about their medical care and expect the white coat to tell them what to do and they do it. That is why cardios got 100% all in on all people. Unless of course you can prove you are smarter than the average patient.

I'm happy you have the temerity and the peace of mind to make the choices you have taken, windyshores. We should all hope to do that. Nine years with intermittent AF, and no meds....that's quite spectacular. On my other forum, affibers.org, a fellow with user-name GeorgeN has had AF for many years, but keeps it 99% controlled with a strict dietary and supplement regimen that includes at least two grams of Mg each day, multiple doses, and he even makes his own 'swill' that he sips during the day. However, he does get the odd run, and he subscribes to the PIP routine (pill-in-pocket) where he pops up to 200mg of Flecainide as soon as he knows he has gone into AF. Lucky him, that one dose seems to beat it down and he is good for weeks and months. BTW, he has also found that an elevated (by his normal ingestion) level of calcium intake will often bring on AF. He has to avoid all dairy, but he's the type of guy who would take D3 with K2 as a supplement, so his bones are good.