I am male and have suffered from the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis since I was less than 10 years old. fortunately It was never so much of a problem in those days as to have warranted a great deal of attention However at about age 40 I did end up having bouts of pain that at times were very intense. My mother had suffered from RA and had developed a philosophical point of view about it and just pressed on. So I did the same, which was a big mistake. My arthritis got progressively worse until when I was about 55 I reached a point where, at times, just getting out of the car had started to become a bit of a challenge. Occasionally I would see a doctor and he would prescribe some non steroidal anti inflammatory and this would settle it down again for a while. However one day one of the people at my work pointed out to me that one of my elbows was badly swollen. I took this to my doctor and as it turned out ended up seeing a different doctor from the usual. to cut a long story short he suspected RA and initiated tests to check this out. In the mean time He put me onto a fairly heavy dose of prednisone which brought the swelling in the elbow and some discomfort and minor swelling in other joints under control. When the results from blood tests and X ray came in they indicated that I had a high Rheumatoid factor accompanied with joint damage to a greater or lesser degree all over my body. (Mind you at this time I was still very active in the construction industry and was often engaged in a very physical capacity. As a result of the outcome of the tests I was referred to a Rheumatologist along with a folder full of joint x rays and test results. After an initial examination He informed me that we would start of by reducing the inflammation by using Prednisone ( Prednisone is a steroidal anti inflammatory that is widely used with inflammatory arthritis) prednisone is usually taken only every morning with food. Also a drug called Methotrexate once a week was prescribed. (Methotrexate is a disease modifying drug that interferes with the ability of the immune system to be able to produce the cells that cause the destructive inflammation that is at the root of RA). Methotrexate needs to be accompanied with folic acid taken daily, to protect you from liver damage. After about 6 month of this the amount of prednisone was reduced gradually until it was down to 5ml per day, ideally no prednisone is best. during the set ling down period I consulted my rheumatologist every 3 months and because I was taking Methotrexate I needed to have a blood test to keep an eye open for liver toxicity at first monthly which has now set led down to 3 monthly, these blood tests also check for inflammation, blood count sometimes RF and a couple of other things that I cant think of right now. In any case everything seemed to be under control except the elbow which was going from bad to worse, Another disease modifying drug was added by the name of Plaquenil to make further modifications to the immune system, however Alas I was too late to save the elbow so at a certain point I was referred to a orthopedic surgeon to have it replaced with a new metal one. That went well even though not quite as good as the real thing as it does have limits on what you can do with it. In any case I am 62 now and have been getting organized treatment for RA for about 6 years. I have to take a few different tablets in the mornings, one at night, and a blood test every 3 months, visit my rheumatologist every 6 months. Because of the drugs I take have to be more careful to stay out of the way of infectious diseases like flu. Believe me even if you did not have a problem with them before you will be far more susceptible to them wit a compromised immune system. Make flu shots part of the treatment. And keep an eye on your overall health as RA can affect many other organs in the body. Medicine can do great things to improve the quality of life However it is important also to maintain your own positive outlook as getting depressed about things that you can not change will cause stress, and emotional stress in my experience is one of the things that causes RA to flare. This is probably why more women suffer from it then men.