Temporary Blindness In Eyes, Starts With Sharp Pain In Neck, Pain Below Ear. Any Ideas? Treatment?

My wife has been experiencing temporary blindness in one or both eyes for the past 4 days. It starts with a sharp pain in her neck, which she describes as someone trying to push a golf ball up the artery in her neck towards her head, and it ususally drops her to her knees. Then she experiences pain just below her ear and pain in her temporal lobes, followed by sudden entire loss of sight in one or both of her eyes. Sometimes it comes with a massive headache, at others no headache. Her pupils dialete normally to changes in light, but she cant see. She has constant pressure and tightness on the right side of her of her neck. This pain and loss of sight can last from anywhere 2 hrs to currently the longest of 8 hrs. Her sight will suddenly come back completely for no appearant reason. What could cause this? Any advice on treatment or what to do would be helpful as well.