diff --git a/src/rest_server.cpp b/src/rest_server.cpp
index 92235eb..6efa4d7 100644
--- a/src/rest_server.cpp
+++ b/src/rest_server.cpp
@@ -66,21 +66,46 @@ namespace lws
   namespace
   {
     namespace http = epee::net_utils::http;
+    constexpr const std::chrono::seconds reconnect_backoff{10};
 
-    expect<rpc::client*> thread_client(const rpc::client& gclient)
+    expect<rpc::client*> thread_client(const rpc::client& gclient, const bool reset = false)
     {
-      static boost::thread_specific_ptr<rpc::client> global;
-      rpc::client* thread_ptr = global.get();
-      if (thread_ptr)
-        return {thread_ptr};
-
-      expect<rpc::client> new_client = gclient.clone();
-      if (!new_client)
-        return new_client.error();
-
-      rpc::client* const new_ptr = new rpc::client{std::move(*new_client)};
-      global.reset(new_ptr);
-      return {new_ptr};
+      struct tclient
+      {
+        rpc::client client;
+        std::chrono::steady_clock::time_point last_connect;
+
+        explicit tclient() noexcept
+          : client(), last_connect(std::chrono::seconds{0})
+        {}
+      };
+      static boost::thread_specific_ptr<tclient> global;
+
+      tclient* thread_ptr = global.get();
+      if (!thread_ptr)
+      {
+        thread_ptr = new tclient;
+        global.reset(thread_ptr);
+      }
+
+      if (reset || !thread_ptr->client)
+      {
+        // This reduces ZMQ internal errors with lack of file descriptors
+        const auto now = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
+        if (now - thread_ptr->last_connect < reconnect_backoff)
+          return {error::daemon_timeout};
+
+        // careful, gclient and thread_ptr->client could be aliased
+        expect<rpc::client> new_client = gclient.clone();
+        thread_ptr->client = rpc::client{};
+        thread_ptr->last_connect = now;
+        if (!new_client)
+          return new_client.error();
+
+        thread_ptr->client = std::move(*new_client);
+      }
+
+      return {std::addressof(thread_ptr->client)};
     }
 
     expect<void> send_with_retry(rpc::client& tclient, epee::byte_slice message, const std::chrono::seconds timeout)
@@ -92,8 +117,13 @@ namespace lws
         if (resp || resp != net::zmq::make_error_code(EFSM))
           break;
         // fix state machine by reading+discarding previously timed out response
-        if (tclient.get_message(timeout).matches(std::errc::timed_out))
-          return {error::daemon_timeout};
+        auto read = tclient.get_message(timeout);
+        if (!read)
+        {
+          // message could've been delivered, then dropped in process failure
+          thread_client(tclient, true);
+          return read.error();
+        }
       }
       return resp;
     }