Thank you all for your support and kindness. Has anyone experienced Rheumatoid Arthritis? How fast does it develops and the impact please?

OA (Osteoarthritis) here. Any flare up can literally put you on your back.

Oh, my yes. Rheumatoid is a BEAR. My step-daughter, 61, has dealt it her entire adulthood.

Your question interests me because in all truth each case of rheumatoid is much like each case of MS. The progression of the disease is ENTIRELY impossible to predict. No one can know at all. It tends to jump in progressions, then settle a while, then is on the move again, and always difficult to know when and why. The new medications are somewhat miraculous, but the course of the disease continues for each individual. My stepdaughter continues her teaching career, a normal life, and is a master gardener, but the pain she deals with is her constant companion, and changes in her gait, her hands, noticeable.

So progression? You cannot know. Impact? Yes. And dependent on so many things.
BUT, my gal lives a normal life, enjoying her daughter, her career, her garden and all her many hobbies.

I wish you the best. Know that you are as individual as your own thumbprint, and no one's story is yours as your story belongs to no one else.

I have only known someone affected as a child so I have no advice other than to direct you to RheumatoidArthritis.net

https://rheumatoidarthritis.net/forums