What Causes Severe Pain Behind The Left Ear?

I am a 38 yr old female, 200 lbs. and 5 7 tall. Over the last 6-8 years I have had sharp stabbing pains in the little concave area just behind my left ear. It has been a year or so since I have had any and they usually are manageable coming 4 or 5 times in a row for a few seconds each then going away for a couple of hours. This happens maybe six times a day, never lasting more than a couple of days. However, 3 days ago, I was hit by one of these pains like I had never felt before. It stopped me in my tracks and made me scream out in pain. My family was stunned as I have a very high tolerance for pain. The initial pain lasted for about three minutes and came in dibilitating waves about every 7-8 minutes for over an hour before easing to a tolerable pain level. I actually had to lie down and sleep to get any relief. This went on all day with pain increasing about every 2 hours then decreasing for about 2 hours until I went to bed that nite. My family begged me to go to the ER but I am not an ER fan. When I woke the next morning there was no pain and I went through the whole day without an episode. I thought I was fine so I moved on. Imagine my surprise when I got up yesterday morning and after being awake for a couple of hours, the pain came back with a vengence. It actually makes me cringe, jump and jerk my head to the left everytime a pain comes. I am now going on 48 hours of 2 hours of stabbing pains then 2 hours of lesser pain with intense feelings of heat in that area. I am not being awakened by this pain at nite but my awake hours are miserable. I have no major medical problems. I occasionally have a tension headache but have not had one in over 3 weeks. Please help me....