This one is very easy, and it just scares me how many patients don't either don't notice it, or don't know they can do anything about it.
Your doctor works for YOU. Not the other way around. You hired your doctor to perform a service to you - healthcare. That means it is THEIR job to care for YOUR health. Every single note they take, diagnosis they make, hour they spend reading their PDR, prescription they write - whatever - is TOTALLY useless to you if they don't LISTEN to you to begin with.
The solution? You start by telling your doctor you don't feel he (or she) is listening to you, answering your questions, or providing you with the care you feel you might need. If your doctor is worthy, then he will respect that and make an effort to right his wrong. BUT, if your doctor becomes defensive and you have very good reasons for your feelings (as it clearly appears to me that you do based on your question), then you FIRE your doctor and seek out a new one. I have done this many times. And I still do it today. A person can graduate from a thousand medical schools and hold a thousand degrees and specialties, but that doesn't make them a good doctor for YOU.
I take this even more seriously when dealing with specialists, such as Neurologists. The medical profession has been sadly reduced to "quantity not quality" in so many places, and patients just figure this is the way it is. There are excellent doctors out there, but you might have to search for a while to find the right one for you.
NOW, as is and was with me, my Migraines have not changed in the 23 years I've had them. So when I saw my Neurologist every 6 months, the appointments were very short. BUT, whenever I had something new to report, the appointment lasted however long it needed to last.
Aside from this, I will share that I have uncontrollable Migraines with no triggers (I don't care what the articles say, I've spent the last 20 years trying to map these "triggers" and my Migraines just don't have any) and I cannot take triptans or beta blockers. I can only treat the pain symptoms at this time. But it has taken me years and years of so many different medication trials to figure this out. And Fioricet is useless if your migraines are servere. I have Fioricet also, but only for tension headaches, not for Migraines. Your doctor should be hearing you on this and acting on it. I also have Klonopin, but it was never suggested or prescribed for my Migraines. It's an anti anxiety drug.
You have every right to proper pain relief. Migraine pain is NO JOKE. And don't let any doctor treat it as if it is no big deal. While you and your doctor search for a better prevention or treatment, your pain and suffering are to never be ignored. Since you mention concerns about taking too many drugs, you should know that the only way to get better pain relief than with Fioricet (which contains APAP or Tylenol, a barbiturate called Butalbital and Caffeine - which is well known as a Migraine trigger for some people), is to move over to the narcotics and/or opiates category, and those are far stronger than Fioricet and typically require increased doses to work. That is why many doctors won't prescribe them for headaches of any kind unless all other treatment attempts have been exhausted. I highly recommend that if you go that route, seek out a Pain Management Specialist to manage the scrips for you - here in TX, it's required and I wish it was in every State. My Migraines have me beyond the realm of Fioricet and narcotics like Vicodin (which, with a Migraine, make me sick anyway.) And I have to meet with a Pain Mgmt Specialist once per month, a Psych once per year, and my Neurologist to get the one pain prescriptions that does work for me. It's meant to ensure those drugs aren't improperly used.
I know it was long, but I hope this helps a bit. Good luck. And don't hesitate to research on the web anything you are curious about - even if you don't think you are "qualified" medically to do so. I research every little thing I have a question about and if I find something out, I ASK the doctor about it. It's my health, my life, and my money, and plan to stay in control of how I am cared for. I failed to be pushy with my Mother's health care and figured the doctors were right and I was crazy. She is no longer with me because of it. I don't plan to let that happen again.
I think this answer is uncalled for. You have called her a drug addict. I work in an ER where people come in drinking Red Bull eating Cheeseburgers and talking on cell phones. You put them in an ER room and THEY say "tell the doc to come back when I am done with my call" THEY are giving migraineurs a bad rep. THEY are giving us the rep that we can't get proper treatment. Why are you accusing her. She may have three neuros which makes no sense. She make not seem compliant and that maybe she needs to be sat down with one of these docs for a reality check. These drugs will cause unpleasant side effects, but does she have to live with these side effects? NO SHE DOES NOT. SHE DOES NOT. IF THEY MAKE HER FEEL BADLY SHE DOES NOT HAVE TO BE A VICTIM OF THESE. Fioricet is NOT addictive. It is tylenol, caffiene, and butalbital I believe. Nothing addictive. Perfectly safe. Valium short term, safe. If however, she is not comfortable she doesn't have to take it. Yet, it is prudent to point out that the docs are probably frustrated as she has three and not willing to take anything that any of the three are rxing and prudent to ask why she isn't taking anything any of the three are rxing and why she is having three which alerts them to concern for doctor shopping just a reality and concern to them which may be why they are popping off a drug and a sad fact of docs these days you got to be careful with migraines. They are not taken seriously, often in medicine, but before you blame her. Take a look at the people that stagger into ER on their cell phones with cheeseburger and cellphone and redbull to busy for the doctor to interrupt. THEY are giving you a bad rap. Not her. She is standing up for her self, but it does look questionable to have three neuros and not to be interested in compliance with anyones suggestions. Just a thought. So please find a doctor whom you feel you can work with to the author of the the original question and know it took me years before I could tolerate an anticonvulsant you are not alone. However, know the docs lay a lot of stigma on patients that they feel may be difficult or overly excitable or anxious or come across as "histrionic" in personality.