I am so interested in all your replys. I am fairly young (52) and have had RA for about 10 years, it is the worst in my hands, so shaking hands is very painful sometimes, if I flinch sometimes when people shake my hands, I explain nicely that I have arthritis in my hands, most of the time they look at my hands and then look at me and say "Your hands look normal to me." Isn't that the rude? My next reply is usually, "I thank God, and the medicine that works so well for that."