While filming the upcoming season of Lifetime’s Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out, show star and dermatologist Dr. Sandra Lee went from doctor to patient after suffering a stroke, from which she is still recovering.
According to People, Dr. Sandra was working at her practice and filming Season 2 of her show back in November when she began to experience what she initially thought was a hot flash.
“I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself,” she recalled to the outlet.
After she finished filming that day, Dr. Sandra went to her parents’ house– located near her Upland, California, practice– where she continued to feel “very restless” that evening and “kept feeling shooting pains” in one of her legs. Once she got up to get something to eat, she noticed that she had difficulty walking down the stairs, and by the following morning, she knew that something was amiss.
“I would hold my hand out, and it would just slowly collapse,” she said. “I noticed that I had a tough time articulating and just enunciating. I thought, ‘Am I having a stroke?’”
Dr. Sandra’s father, who is also a dermatologist, encouraged her to immediately go to the emergency room, where the reality TV doc underwent an MRI which showed that she had, in fact, suffered an “ischemic stroke.” (According to the American Stroke Association, “an ischemic stroke occurs when a vessel supplying blood to the brain is obstructed.” Ischemic strokes account for approximately 87 percent of all strokes.)
Dr. Sandra’s neurologist, Dr. May Kim-Tenser of USC’s Keck Medical School, told People that the Number 1 risk factor of an ischemic stroke is high blood pressure; Dr. Kim-Tenser also noted that doctors are seeing a nearly 15 percent increase in stroke prevalence among patients between the ages of 45 and 64.
Dr. Sandra, who is 55, called the news of her stroke “a shock,” despite observing many of the symptoms prior to her trip to the ER.
“As a physician, I couldn’t deny that I had slurred speech, that I was having weakness on one side, but I was like, ‘Well, this is a dream, right?’” she said. “What essentially happened, is I had a part of my brain that died.”
Filming on Season 2 of ‘Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out’ was paused following Dr. Sandra’s health scare, during which she spent two months in recovery and underwent physical and occupational therapy in order to regain balance, movement and other “very basic things.” While her neurologist says “she’s lucky” as “her symptoms are pretty much resolved,” Dr. Sandra said she continues to notice a difference in the way she speaks.
“ … I don’t speak exactly the way I used to,” she said. “You’re really embarrassed to speak because you notice it.”
Dr. Sandra didn’t let that embarrassment keep her out of the office, as she made her return in January, despite admitting that it “was very scary” for her to do so.
“There’s a lot of PTSD because it happened while I was filming the show,” she explained.
While she said she’s “pretty much back to normal” at this point, Dr. Sandra said that in hindsight, she recognizes the factors that led to her stroke.
“My blood pressure and my cholesterol were not under control and I have a lot of stress in my life, dealing with my patients and the show,” she said. “I want to think about it as a blessing in disguise, because it reminds you to take better care of yourself.”
Part of that care for Dr. Sandra includes continuing physical therapy at home, taking blood thinners and receiving support from her staff and family.
She’s also hoping that sharing her story publicly will help to erase some of the stigma around strokes.
“In Asian cultures in particular, they don’t tell people they’ve had a stroke because it can be seen as a sign of weakness,” Dr. Sandra explained. “I want to get the word out that if you have symptoms like I had, make sure you see your doctor. Take care of yourself.”
Season 2 of ‘Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out’ premieres April 20 on Lifetime. Watch a preview of the new season below.
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(Photos: Lifetime; Instagram)
