S.K.
My daughter had it a few years ago and my son had it last summer. I never had either of them officially diagnosed, but their symptoms fit the description. And when my daughter had it, her teacher took one look at her and said Fifth's disease. Neither of them seem bothered too much by it. Although if they spent any time in the heat or sun, they started glowing red like they had a really bad sunburn.
A couple weeks after my son had it, I was trying to write something and my finger (one finger) was hurting. I looked down and saw the rash across my entire chest and down my arms. Then another finger started hurting. The rash eventually spread down to my legs. Within a few days the joints in my entire hand were aching. Gradually my other hand started aching too. My hands were swollen to the point that I couldn't wear my wedding ring and it took multiple painful tries just to get my bra hooked. Some days I could hardly hold a pencil. Then as my hands were just barely starting to get better, my feet started aching. My feet were the worst in the morning when I first got up. But they hurt if I did any walking at all. And of course, we were on vacation at the worst of it.
Basically, my kids seemed hardly bothered by it at all, but I was completely miserable. I think it was about 2 months (maybe even 3) before the pain completely went away. I know it got much better at some point but took a little longer to go away completely.
That's probably not what you want to hear. I hope you feel better quicker than I did.