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Woman recalls how her ‘little chase’ turned into a long, torturous journey
YOUNGSTOWN
When she was using OxyContin, Krystal Vinion said her main reason for waking up every morning was to “begin my little chase.”
“The devil” was her nickname for the prescription painkiller.
“At my low point, I stole money from my parents and took things from their house to pawn. I was doing up to eight, 80-milligram Oxys a day,” she said. “I was a fiend.”
Vinion, 27, of Austintown, is a client at Turning Point Counseling Services and has been clean and sober since Sept. 10, 2010. She is one of many who became hooked on prescription drugs, the drugs of choice among teens and young adults.
Four Ohioans die every day from accidental overdose, state health officials say, making unintentional drug poisoning the leading cause of injury and death in the state.
Depending on where she scored the OxyContin, the pills cost anywhere from $50 to $80 each, giving her a $400-or-more-per-day habit to finance, Vinion said. She said the usual street value is $1 per milligram.
Vinion said her addiction cost her everything of value, which she is now trying to get back — her three children, now age 5 through 9; her self-respect; and the respect, if not the love, of her parents and family.
She said she lost all reasons for living except to succeed in her daily “little chase.”
“I got robbed at gunpoint with my kids in the car trying to buy Oxy,” she said.
OxyContin is one of the brand names for Oxycodone, which is generally prescribed for pain relief.
Vinion, a 2002 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, said she was pretty much a loner at school but was not into drugs or trouble.
After graduating, she worked as a private caregiver, got an apartment, and began what she called the recreational use of OxyContin “pretty much with my boyfriend or by myself. You get greedy, and you don’t want to share with anybody else.”
She said “tough love” from her parents was her initial wake-up call, but it was a long, tortuous journey before Sept. 10, 2010.
“I had called home and said I wanted my car. We argued. Dad ... hung up. That crushed me. My parents and I had been pretty close,” Vinion said, eyes welling up with tears.
“After they found out everything, I went into inpatient treatment at Neil Kennedy Recovery [Clinic], but left before I finished the program,” she said.
For Vinion, the final blow came when she lost her children. Her two daughters were put in foster care, and her son lives with her mother.
“Living with my parents, I get to see my son. I see my girls once a week. Their foster parents are wonderful, but my No. 1 goal is to get my kids back,” said Vinion, who is going through a reunification plan through Mahoning County Children Services.
Vinion had several relapses before finally ending up at Turning Point Counseling Services.
“Turning Point was the right place at the right time for me,” she said.
Along with individual and group therapy sessions at Turning Point, she also receives prescription drugs for depression and other issues. She said, however, she is so afraid of getting addicted to prescription drugs she strongly resists taking any pills.
OxyContin affects individuals differently, said Greg Kokosko, Vinion’s counselor at Turning Point.
Some users become sleepy, but it had the opposite effect on Vinion.
“It made me feel I didn’t have any problems. It gave me energy — I’d clean the whole house in a hour — but it would numb me emotionally,” she said.
One day Vinion realized that she was going to end up in jail or dead if she didn’t quit.
“I can’t tell you the last time I was tempted or had a thought about returning to using Oxy,” she said.
She handles daily stresses differently now.
“I smoke a cigarette or listen to music or go to the basement and think about peaceful things,” she said.
Vinion said she thanks God when she wakes up each morning.
“Life is so much better without Oxy. I feel phenomenal physically. I’m more aware of things. ... My eyes are more open to the possibilities of life,” she said.
Some of those newfound possibilities for her are starting a nail-care business and a bakery.
“I’m going to stay clean and sober and live a healthy, happy life. I’m not afraid or ashamed to tell my story. Maybe it will help someone,” she said.
But she says she knows it will not be easy to repair the bridges she burned while on OxyContin.
“The trust with my parents is not what it was, but I think it’s coming back; and I have to prove I’m worthy of getting my kids back,” Vinion said.
“I am grateful for everything that has happened, because it made me who I am today. I am proud that I’ve come this far,” she said.