To find what’s happened to Michael Mosley quite anxiety provoking

[Glasto73lover]

It’s that idea of never really knowing what’s going to happen- the idea that we walk such a fine line in life. If you think too much about it, you probably wouldn’t leave the house.!

A close family member died suddenly and tragically a decade ago - literally dropped dead at home age 48 - something went pop in their head. So you genuinely don’t know when your time is up.

It’s that idea of a chain of consequence that can go so horribly wrong too- people always say ‘oh but you could get hit by a bus’ - stuff like this actually makes me really anxious. So many what ifs.

For Michael Moseley - a chain of probably inconsequential decisions may have led to his death- not having a phone on him, choosing to undertake a walk that in the U.K. is nothing but in that heat, was devastating and probably caused his death.

It makes me anxious that I won’t know if I am making those decisions - am I making sense? I think as I have got older, I have become more anxious and risk averse (thanks menopause) and as a result, you could end up not leaving the house. How do you choose a sensible approach? Not too much risk but some!

But I also want to live my life too!! I guess I find incidents like this quite difficult!

I guess always having a phone, not undertaking walks in intense heat in an unfamiliar place etc are the common sense points that will come out of this tragedy.

Aibu to find it anxiety provoking tho?!

Yes, I pride myself on my rude health (lone parent, I feel I HAVE to be healthy, IYSWIM), and I had an episode of post viral fatigue for about a month recently. As a menopausal woman who has several friends with various autoimmune illnesses, this has always been one of my greatest fears. I got quite depressed, even though it was so minor compared to what some people suffer. But it did give me increased empathy for people in that boat, so I guess it was an important life lesson.

I don’t feel angry towards him at all. It was his own choice. He knew full well what heatstroke is and the precautions he needed to take. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting to be walking for so long. Even if his wife had said to him at the beach, You haven’t got your phone/you need more water/why don’t you wait for us… he would have gone anyway.

Not true. His father died of complications of diabetes at 72.

I don’t feel angry towards him at all

Angry? You didn’t even know him 😂

I am responding to the poster who said she was ‘furious’ and lots of people agreeing with them.

And they would be entitled to do so, just as he was entitled to make the decisions and do the stuff that he did. It doesn't change my opinion though.

Agreed it could have been a heart attack prompted by heatstroke. They have proven he was sitting down. There was no fall or blow to the head. His hands were on his chest. Mercifully it was probably quick.

I think people need to stop blaming him. He had water, he was fit, he had an umbrella and he’d only walked a couple of miles. The heat was excessive but on other days he’d done the same and was fine.

Yeah I'm so disappointed in his choices too, he was too good to lose.
His "time wasn't up"
We aren't controlled by fate!
It was the choices he made. He was always testing himself. And even his intelligence and common sense couldn't cancel out the curiosity and risk taking in this case.
It just feels so sad and preventable

I once had a scary experience due to fairly innocent decisions. It wasn’t the heat but -30C, my friend had dropped me off at another friend’s place where I was meant to stay that night which was Xmas eve. As I fully expected to walk into his warm flat from the car, I had not taken my hat, scarf or gloves. I think I also only had trainers on. I didn’t have a mobile phone as it was 1997.

However, after my lift giving friend had left I realised I actually didn’t know which apartment block was his. I thought I did but once there they all looked the same. I had no coins to make a phone call and there was no soul outside it being xmas eve (it’s the main event in my home country). After an hour circling around the buildings I had to call the emergency service to ask if they could call my friend to say I’m outside but unable to find him.

Once he found me, it took me hours to get warm, my internal core temperature felt so cold for so long.

We all make innocent mistakes, I find it horrendous how people are rushing up to blame him not to mention calling him all sorts of names.

I gather that just a few degrees of heat can make a massive difference to human health. Before MM's accident I had been reading about the Mediterranean weather and thinking "Wow, the 40 degree heatwaves are early this year".

It seems that a susceptibility to heatstroke can be quite random. You get those occasional soldiers collapsing and dying in the Brecon Beacons on exercises, when presumably the rest are OK.

I think it's of note that this happened on the second day of his holiday,too. We haven't had much warm weather in the UK this year, so perhaps he had neither physically or psychologically acclimatised. I read a book about a man walking the length of the Nile a way back. Two journalists flew out to join him for a leg- one from elsewhere in Africa, one from a New York winter. On a 40 degree day, climbing a hill in the open, the latter suddenly collapsed from heat exhaustion and died. It happened so fast- and they were so far from even the nearest road- that he had no chance.

It sounds like he had a medical episode like a heart attack or stroke. If he'd been alone on a UK coastal path he'd have also likely already been dead by the time someone next walked along the path. It could just as easily have happened if he'd stayed home, and a phone wasn't likely to have helped considering he was already in earshot if he'd had time to call for help.

When there's signal 😬

Pretty much the whole of that day around Exmoor- and where I was camping in the Doone valley- there was zero signal. It's why I prefer to rely on paper maps.

I know. It’s embarrassing all these people judging and getting all involved. I suggest they focus on their own lives.

Ultimately none of us knows the exact circumstances and nature of his death. He could have had an existing illness for all we know. His medical history is rightfully private, despite his media persona and job.

I think people need to stop blaming him. He had water, he was fit, he had an umbrella and he’d only walked a couple of miles. The heat was excessive but on other days he’d done the same and was fine.

He’d also had a history of amnesia, was 67, took with him a small bottle of water, told nobody where he was going, and didn’t take his phone. Also, it was only the second day of the holiday.

Unfortunately this can happen to anyone, anywhere, who is exerting themselves and it's more likely to happen to an older man. Remember Robin Cook who died on a mountainside in the UK. Yes the heat was probably a factor and he was foolhardy but I can't understand people being 'furious' with him. It could have happened on a dogwalk in the English countryside, it might have happened on a treadmill in the local gym, though he would have had far better survival odds. Makes you see the benefit of defibrillators being installed in public places.

His "time wasn't up"

How on earth do you know this? What does that even mean?

I wonder if he was testing bodily endurance in extreme heat. V. tragic

I had a friend die of cancer at 60, another die in university after being hit by a drunk driver, another friend of a brain tumor at 58, another of bone cancer at 75. My mum in law is 91 and sliding into dementia. But instead of being anxious, maybe reframe and live the best life you can with the time you have been granted. Every day is a gift and as Dr Moseley said, give gratitude for what you have.

There is no reason to fear death. I took gross anatomy and the corpse is a lifeless husk. It is nothing to be afraid of. Bronnie Ware’s book on the Regrets of the Dying if you haven’t read it already is wonderful. Good luck, and I hope you feel better.

I had just started living in a v. cold place in the American midwest and was getting ready to go out to my car from work. I had my hat, thick coat and good boots, but had lost one of my gloves. The janitor said, where is your other glove and I told him and said I would keep my hand in my pocket. Nope, he said, and went to the lost and found and came back with a pair of gloves. He said, these have been unclaimed for a couple years…you could get frostbite. Never go out without gloves in weather like this. He was absolutely right, and I still think of him with great gratitude.

That throwaway comment- "it was over 20 years ago so it probably wouldn't have been over 40 degrees" is so, so sad 😪

I've got lost in Greece before. Southern Europe is often a whole different kind of walking- limestone country is treacherous.

Couldn't agree more and relieved to see it is not just me having these thoughts. Just cannot understand why anyone would do this let alone a responsible medical professional.

My husband died suddenly and unexpectedly at 51. It made me a bit paranoid for a few years as my kids were little.
I realise my main anxiety is what will happen to my kids (just about adults but still fairly dependent with one just about to start uni).
So I need to get my will updated, need to arrange some sort of life insurance, need to write down what and where the accounts are, how the financial side works in terms of bills being paid and income ... I need to sort the house so they are not left with so much crap to go through. Death cleansing as it's called.
Of course I can't control when 'my time' comes, but I can make it easier on one important sense for my kids. And I can mitigate risks too - which apparently Dr M did not do. I imagine his wife is furious with him at the moment.

Yes it is, I didn’t mean to be flippant. We went to Spain last year with some friends, I was so looking forward to it as we hadn’t been to the Mediterranean for 6 years but it was just way too hot for me and DD. I was really worried about DD who is very fragile looking and had quite bad asthma from the dryness of the heat. The temperature was hitting 40 on a couple of days and then 35 most other days. We spent a fortune on drinks and snacks in restaurants as well as the meals as we were perpetually escaping the sun. The best day out was a gallery that had amazing Air conditioning! I remember going on holiday with my parents to Spain, Southern France, Italy and it just wasn’t the same, we could actually do stuff. That said my brother was in Italy last year and it was 45 at one point and he said all was fine.

I’d never heard of this guy until he went missing, but from what I’ve read he sounds great - he’s done a lot for all of us with his ideas and ability to present and convince. He’s sadly now dead from natural causes. That’s all we actually know. I hope he rests in peace, and I send love and best wishes to his grieving family. He lived a good life.

The PPs here being furious and calling him names: shame on you. Get a bloody grip and have some bloody respect.

PP: your anxiety sounds very debilitating. Do you have anyone in real life you can talk your concerns through with?

@WoodForTreesSeeing Because it makes it sound like God is deciding, or fate. That he would have died that day even if he hadn't gone for that walk.

When actually if he hadn't made those choices he will have probably lived for years more.