You have it backwards. The sleep apnea almost always results in AF, and not the other way around. This is well-established in the medical community and in the health insurance world where people co-pay for PAP machines with their insurers' help.

AF is not 'helped' by CPAP machines, but using a PAP machine suitable for the type of apnea you have, and using it regularly, will SLOW THE PROGRESSION of AF. You must accept that AF is a progressive disorder of the heart. It gets worse, or evolves into something nastier, with the mere passage of time. Not using PAP therapy will quite likely hasten the process.

You should meet with a good electro-physiologist as soon as you can. They're not all the same, not by a long shot. You want one who does 6-10 ablations each week, and who has been doing them for about 10 years or more. Experience really counts in the catheter ablation field. Further, you should hope to get ablated within a year of diagnosis, ideally, and certainly before you develop 'persistent' AF which is much more intractable and doesn't respond well to ablation. The sooner you get mechanical correction, and not drug deferral, the better off you'll be in the morbidity department.