Hi Boston

Mine started in my left knee and spread throughout the leg within about 18 months. In the original site I had a LOT of visible skin CRPS symptoms like the swelling, rashes, red burning skin, cold purple blue skin, hair went weird, skin shiny and thin, etc. The second site (my left foot) also displays a lot of symptoms the same. In time these visible symptoms have lessened a little, but still come back with flares, and the pain changed to mainly a deeper inner bone pain, with the burning on top if you know what I mean.

Since then it has spread to my left arm and right foot. It is different in these sites, and from what I've read and been told, it's not uncommon for these secondary sites to experience the CRPS symptoms in a slightly different way. My left arm can get very cold, I get odd electric type pains in it, it is weaker and has some tremors, and I get those cold muscle sensitive type pains throughout, and into my shoulder - like someone has dipped that part of me into iced water. I can feel the edge of it now on the left side of my neck and around my shoulder quite clearly. It's a very definite line. I don't get much of the burning red rash, it's much more a cold sensitivity.

Hope this helps a little. I've read a lot about it and you can definitely have it present differently in a new area. It doesn't mean it's not CRPS. You need to list the symptoms you are getting in the old and then the new area, and look at them honestly and ask yourself 'could this new thing be CRPS? Could it be anything else?'. We all over react to new pains because the CRPS affects our brains and tells us to. Our pain system is hyped up and it makes it difficult to tell what's really going on... But for me the pain is the main symptom that tells me it's CRPS, it has that relentless, changeable, odd and senseless quality to it we all recognise

Take care of yourself and I hope you are feeling a little better today.

Bram.