@chickenfarmer I understand your position. Here is what I know, or 'think' I know 😀 :

When the left atrium is fibrillating, the circulation of blood is reduced. It can't fill properly by the time the next untimed contraction takes place. One serious outcome of this is that the 'left atrial appendage', a small pouch at upper extreme left of the left atrium, doesn't get flushed out properly with a fresh supply of blood. After a while, still in AF, whether a few minutes or several hours, the pooled and stale blood has begun to clot. Then, by bad luck, or when the heart reverts to normal sinus rhythm, which happens to you almost every time, the new vigorous refilling of the left atrium might cause one or more clots to get washed out of the LAA, and it goes out of the heart on the next ventricular contraction. Where it goes means life, life in a wheelchair or on your back, or death. It can travel to the heart, itself, and cause a heart attack because it blocks the left anterior descending artery. Or it can travel to the brain and give you a nasty stroke. Or, maybe to the lungs. Or to a kidney.

The risk of a stroke from AF rises five times ( X 5) over a normal person's risk at the same age and with a good heart. The risk of a major bleed is somewhat less. When was the last time you had a catastrophic bleed, say from a terrible fall that broke bones and had a sharp bone pierce an artery? Or in a car accident where a limb was almost completely severed? Those events are rare. and even when they do happen, someone nearby will call for help and attempt to stanch the worst of the blood loss. Minor cuts and abrasions don't even figure here. It's just the serious bleeds, and for all of us, it's very remote. But.................you do NOT want a stroke.

Last part of this...sorry, it gets long....and that is that the EP community have established that you can die from an AF related stroke months after a successful ablation or after reverting to normal sinus rhythm and not having any more AF over that long period. It is for this reason that the Watchman device was engineered and is offered to many patients. It seals off the mouth of the LAA and doesn't let any clots issue from it, ever. At that point, with a confirmatory trans-esophageal echocardiogram (TEE), your cardiologist and EP will agree, usually, to let you stop taking Eliquis/Rivaroxaban, maybe with a baby aspirin each day instead. But this depends on your overall risk. You may have other things going on that also raise your risk of a stroke....not just the history of AF.

I hope this very long explanation helps you to situate yourself in this unfortunate condition.

@chickenfarmer I think your right. I saw an EP once and he put me on eliquis. I fought it for along time and am not happy with seeing my episodes of AF increase after taking it. Don’t know what to do!🫩