diff --git a/lib/client.js b/lib/client.js
index f23fb4a69..d44c21e63 100644
--- a/lib/client.js
+++ b/lib/client.js
@@ -2150,16 +2150,23 @@ function _pollForEvents(client, attempt) {
     if (!client.clientRunning) {
         return;
     }
+    var timeoutMs = client._config.pollTimeout;
+    if (attempt > 1) {
+        // we think the connection is dead. If it comes back up, we won't know
+        // about it till /events returns. If the timeout= is high, this could
+        // be a long time. Set it to 1 when doing retries.
+        timeoutMs = 1;
+    }
     var discardResult = false;
     var timeoutObj = setTimeout(function() {
         discardResult = true;
         console.error("/events request timed out.");
         _pollForEvents(client);
-    }, client._config.pollTimeout + (20 * 1000)); // 20s buffer
+    }, timeoutMs + (20 * 1000)); // 20s buffer
 
     client._http.authedRequest(undefined, "GET", "/events", {
         from: client.store.getSyncToken(),
-        timeout: client._config.pollTimeout
+        timeout: timeoutMs
     }).done(function(data) {
         if (discardResult) {
             return;