Have your partner ask about a trial period if possible. We did that — moved to Denver on a 6 month "let's see" basis before fully committing. Gave me time to see how my body handled it across different seasons.
Austin humidity with RA sounds miserable. Denver has really good rheumatology care — University of Colorado hospital is excellent. The altitude took me about 3 weeks to adjust to when I visited.
I lived in Denver for 2 years with fibro before moving to Portland. The altitude itself wasn't a big issue after the first month. What DID affect me was the rapid weather changes — Denver can go from 70 to 30 in a day and those pressure swings are intense. The dryness was actually great for my joints though.
I moved to Colorado from the PNW and the dry air helped me a ton after the altitude adjustment period (about two weeks) but air quality is terrible in the city. I moved to an even higher altitude in Southern Colorado with clean air and I’m much happier. Wet, humid air and swift barometric changes are killers for me.
