Symptoms of CRPS -  The most promenent symptom is burning pain.  Burning pain indicates nerve pain.  Some people describe it as if they were doused with lighter fluid and set on fire.  I describe it as feeling like a sunburn one thousand fold. Other classic symptoms of CRPS include a change in color and temperature of the affected area,  changes in the nails, bones and muscles.  While most people with CRPS experience several of these symptoms, some experience them all. These symptoms can come and go making a good history the most effective way of diagnosing CRPS. The affected area (an extremity, the back, the face, etc.) becomes a reddish-purple in color. This color becomes more prominent when the person with CRPS has a flare of their symptoms.  The temperature of the affected area is cooler than the unaffected area of the body.  Temperature probes that are extremely sensitive to the slightest changes in temperature can be used to check the temperature of the affected area compared to the unaffected areas.    The affected body part will be cooler than the unaffected same body part.  Even without these instruments, you can feel the difference in temperature simply by touching the two body parts. In addition to color and temperature changes in the skin, the hair density changes as well.  The skin becomes shinny.