Hi Terri!   I'm sorry to hear you are suffering with peircing ear pain! I personally do not experience piercing ear pain, but when I get a Migraine, my ear does have a dull pain that is inside and also in back of my ear.   Have you been diagnosed with Migraine or a headache disorder? If not, that would be your first step. It sounds like you are on your way with the MRI's and CT's, but Migraine isn't something that would show up on those, or any other tests. Usually Migraine and or a headache disorder is diagnosed through a series of questions from your doctor.   The type of pain you are describing could be ice pick headaches. Ice pick headaches are short, stabbing, extremely intense headaches that can be absolutely terrifying. They generally only last between five and 30 seconds. However, they come out of nowhere, can strike anywhere on the head, literally feel as if an ice pick is being stuck into your head, then disappear before you can even figure out what's happening. The pain can also seem to occur in or behind the ear.  You can read more about ice pick headaches by clicking HERE.  

You mention "headaches last for months at a time" - are you taking anything for them? Taking Migraine abortive meds such as triptans or any kind of pain med more than two or three days a week can make matters worse by causing medication overuse headache (MOH), aka rebound. See Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires for more information on this.    

I know you're going through a rough time. If you'd like some additional support, come join our discussion forum. You'll need to register again once there because it's a separate membership database, but you can use the same member name, email address, and password that you used here. You can find our forum at http://forums.healthcentral.com/discussion/migraine/forums.  

Good Luck!

Eileen Gray