cartilage ear piercing pain?

Sounds like an infection. Take out whatever you have stuck in there, and clean it. In my day we used Hydrogen Peroxide, but I think that is frowned upon now. Maybe some soap and neosporin.

Do not remove it as the user earlier suggested. If it is an infection it needs to drain. What do you think will happen if you remove an infected piercing? Where will the infection drain? It will become an abcess and if that happens youll need to get a perscription from a docter to get rid of it. Clean it with dial soap, gold. And do a hot seasalt soak. The warmth will encourage draining and seasalt helps heal wounds faster. Look up the recipe for a seasalt soak on a piercing website. With my infections i would do a soak for 15m two to three times a day and clean it before hand. On my belly ring i had a huge lump that started bleeding and after a few days of the seasalt soaks it went away completely. Seasalt works wonders and i highly reccomend them. And if that doesnt help out see a doctor. It may not even be an infection. It could just be irritated or rejecting. Also make sure you're not allergic to the metal. When it goes away continue with seasalt soaks and dial soap (make sure its the gold unscented one) and you should have happy healthy piercings =) good luck and let me know if everything works out.

Have you been cleaning it? Often irritation and infections can form once you're not cleaning it. Check to see if there's a bump at all and whether or not pus is coming out. If so, you need to remove it.