I do think that the shock of the losing the force in the way the exile is what killed them.
Like Normal people uses their eyesight, The Jedi master uses their stronger senses to use the force but it is so ingrained into their psyche when they lose their primary connection to the force they had a complete mental breakdown and lost the will to live.
The Exile still use the force but like a blind man, he has to use his other senses to use the force.