As someone who developed permanent tinnitus out of nowhere like this, this chapter hit especially hard. I still remember the sheer anxiety and sleepless nights. Take care of your ears folks.
Edit: I figured I'd add for people interested/concerned, tinnitus can easily come from stress! That's how I got it! (I was tested to hell and back and have no discernable hearing loss or ear damage). That's why this chapter hurt so much to read, because it's exactly what happened to me.
It all stared with a single ring like you get sometimes when your sinuses are stuffed or whatever, but then it didn't go away when I woke up the next morning. What's worse, it only started to spread to the other ear. After that, you watch your entire daily routine crumble. Your places of relaxation are no longer, you're hearing the noise(s) from the moment you wake up until you go to sleep. You can't be in a silent environment because it intensifies the noise, you also can't focus on it because it intensifies it, you can't relax by yourself without putting some kind of white noise to mask the soundd, you can't fall asleep easily because the sound bothers you, and all of this makes you more anxious/tired which in turn exacerbates your symptoms and the tinnitus, spiraling your mental health out of control.
It took a good part of half a year of intense medication and therapy to learn to accept this is my life now and to start adapting to it. I'm thankfully mostly ok now but sometimes the ringing changes and I almost have panic attacks, terrified of it getting worse. I do not wish this condition on my worst enemy.
So please take care of mental health and your ears. There's no going back once it happens.