I think I have this as well. I have had mine most of the time for the past 4 years. I had pain and throbbing at the carotid bifurcation (with ear and head pain) on the left side for a month in 2008. Went to the dr. who did a CT scan and an MRI. The CT scan suggested a blood clot. The MRI suggested no blood clot. The head and neck surgeon told me there was a slight narrowing of the artery but blood was getting through so nothing to worry about. It eventually went away. Two years later, I had a carotid artery dissection on the right side (another story - not fun). When they compared it to previous imaging, they said I had also had a carotid artery dissection on the left side in 2008 that was misdiagnosed. My right artery was occluded with a blood clot in 2010 but eventually reopened with anticoagulation therapy. The right carotid is now smaller in caliber compared to the left. About 5 months after my most recent dissection, I developed this constant pain at the carotid bifurcation on the left along with deep ear pain, facial and jaw pain, and eye pain on that side. I take 4-6 motrin per day anyway for head pain left from my last dissection but it does not seem to help with the other symptoms which sound like carotidynia. One of my neurologists suggested I might have carotidynia a few years ago and I tried a round of steroids and various migraine meds and migraine prevention meds, none of which seemed to help me. For now, I just grin and bear it. It affects my qualify of life. I also developed chronic dizziness and bouts of vertigo about the same time. Not sure if it's related or not. Since the dissection in 2010, I developed other weird symptoms and now I'm at Stanford after seeing many many doctors and they say I have lupus. So, I thought the post from another writer about carotidynia possibly being autoimmune was interesting. I'm still interested in hearing from others about remedies that have worked. All the best to you!