Sandra “Dr. Pimple Popper” Lee shared a key symptom she overlooked before suffering a stroke.

Even when we hear about warning signs – indicators that something might be wrong – and feel well-informed about the symptoms of a stroke, it’s easy to overlook or downplay them when it actually happens. But recognizing those signs can make the difference between life and death in a medical emergency.

Sandra Lee, better known as Dr. Pimple Popper, suffered a stroke last November and told PEOPLE how it began while she was filming her popular TLC series.

“It happened while I was filming the show,” she said. “I had what I thought was a hot flash. I got super sweaty and didn’t feel like myself.”

Symptoms of a stroke

She was eventually rushed to the hospital, but it wasn’t until hours later that she realized she had overlooked key warning signs the day before. She initially dismissed her hot flashes as a side effect of being overworked or anxiety, but her condition escalated quickly.

“I just felt very restless,” she said of that evening. “In one leg I kept feeling shooting pains.”

She also had trouble sleeping, and when she got up to grab something to eat, she struggled to walk down the stairs. By the next morning, it became clear something was seriously wrong.

“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?’”

“I had a part of my brain that died”

At the hospital, doctors confirmed that she had, in fact, suffered a stroke.

“It was just a shock,” said Lee. “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 added, “is I had a part of my brain that died.”

Thankfully, her recovery has gone well: “I’m pretty much back to normal… It really makes you realize how precious life is.”