I've had symptoms for years, at least 6, but gen dr couldn't figure out what was going on. My symptoms have been flares of pain, mostly throbbing, aching pain on left side of neck. Also, I have pressure pain when I fly upon take off and at concerts with loud music the intense sound waves really hurt and I'll actually cover my left side of neck with my hand. Without knowing what was causing the problem I have found taking 2 aspirin 1 hour before take off made flying tolerable. My gen dr suggested everything from post nasal drip collection to muscle pain from my purse to enlarged tonsils. Finally she referred me to ENT and he immediately zeroed in on my carotid as the source of my pain. I had MRI a few weeks ago & results didn't show anything significant and ENT dx me with Carotidynia. He wanted to put me on Celebrex- I said no. I have appt in 2 weeks with vascular surgeon who will do ultrasound. I'm sorry so many of you are hurting so badly and many have much worse symptoms than I have, but I'm both frustrated and concerned about this dx. I'm reading that this is really a symptom of something more serious. Any of you found that to be true. I do have a very long history of migraines with some months having more than 7 days of migraines. I also have allergies. I was supposed to have a hysterectomy for endometriosis a month ago but that's on hold because ob gyn is concerned about putting me under without clearer dx. Anyone had surgery with this and was there any problems, hazards? Thanks for any answers, none of the Drs seem to know what to do with this.