Dr. Pimple Popper Details ‘Weird’ Stroke Symptoms & Her 'New Normal’ (Exclusive)

Dr. Sandra Lee aka Dr. Pimple Popper opened up to “Extra’s” Terri Seymour about how a normal day of shooting her reality show took a terrifying turn when she suffered a stroke. 

The 55-year-old shared, “So, I was working, it was late in the afternoon, and I was tired. I was cranky… So I tried to speak, I’m all shaky, and when I spoke, I noticed that my words were a little slurred. I could not articulate very well.”

Dr. Lee also started sweating and had trouble swallowing and said she “felt electric shocks going through my legs."

Her symptoms landed her in the ER, and the doc explained, “That's when I found out that, yeah, I had a stroke.”

Dr. Lee suffered an ischemic stroke, a blood clot in the brain that cuts off communication to the body.

She said initially ignoring the symptoms made it worse. 

“There is a window that you can kind of change the course of this, if you get it between an hour and four and a half hours,” adding that her symptoms “were a little weird.”

Lee added, "I didn't really have the [typical] weakness per se… I missed the window."

The stroke crippled the left side of her body, leaving her show and career in question.

The reality star, however, is on the mend. She said, "I'm feeling pretty good. It's just, like, a new kind of normal, you know?”

She’s even back in the operating room.

"Thankfully, this is my non-dominant hand,” she said of her left. “The main thing that I still have to get back is my grip strength, but otherwise I'm doing really well. I mean, I can function. I can do surgeries like I usually do, it just takes a little bit more effort.”

What changes is she making now?

Dr. Lee said, “Trying to control my blood pressure and my cholesterol and really trying to live a healthier life, taking the time with my family and friends, taking some time off, not being so type A... and just trying to enjoy the important things in life… and listen to my body."

The entire traumatic event was captured as part of Season 2 of “Dr. Pimple Popper: Breaking Out,” airing Mondays on Lifetime.