I have suffered from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for almost twenty years now, which is almost half my life. If I had known back at the start of my diagnosis what I know now, I do not know for sure that things would be very different, but there was a heck of a lot I did not know. How complex is this disease and the things it does? This complex: "Rheumatoid arthritis" sounds like the sort of disease that old people get that isn't very serious.