Dr Sandra Lee, aka Dr Pimple Popper, has revealed that she had a stroke while filming the latest season of her hit show of the same name.
The 55-year-old spoke to People about the series of events leading to her diagnosis and revealed that “part of her brain died” during the health battle.
The TV star recalled that during filming last November something felt off, but she put it down to what she thought was a hot flash.
Watch the video above.
After wrapping, she went to her parents’ house nearby, where the restlessness and pain continued. In the morning, she realised something was seriously wrong with the left side of her body.
“I would hold my hand out, and it would just slowly collapse. I noticed that I had a tough time articulating and just enunciating. I thought, ‘Am I having a stroke?'” she recalled.
One trip to the emergency room and an MRI later, and it was revealed that she did, in fact, suffer an ischemic stroke.
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According to Australia’s Stroke Foundation, an ischemic stroke is the most common type of stroke, with it usually being a blood clot that blocks the blood supply to the brain, causing the stroke.
Lee recalled her diagnosis “was just a shock.
“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?’
“What essentially happened,” she explained, “is I had a part of my brain that died.”
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The doctor and TV star decided to immediately halt filming and focus the next two months on recovery, dedicating her time to physical and occupational therapy.
In hindsight, she says she can see how the health scare occurred, with her blood pressure and cholesterol not being under control as she dealt with her patients, the show, and her own personal life.
She is currently treating her condition with blood thinners and continued physical therapy, but found that since returning to work that she had an added layer of fear.
“There’s a lot of PTSD because it happened while I was filming the show,” she revealed.
But overall, she says she wants to share her story to help break the stigma around strokes, which she says is common in Asian cultures, as many think of it as a sign of weakness.
“I want to think about it as a blessing in disguise. Because it reminds you to take better care of yourself,” she said.
Lee began her career filming her extraction videos with willing patients and uploading them to YouTube, before landing her show with US network TLC in 2018.
She has been married to fellow dermatologist Jeffrey Rebish since 2000, with whom she has two adult sons.
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