title: MySQL "Gone Away" Error with Persistent PHP Connection
body: <p>I'm hosting a website locally on a WAMP stack. I recently switched the PHP connection to be persistent by adding <code>array(PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT =&gt; true)</code> to the <code>PDO</code> constructor options argument. I've noticed a material drop in the response time as a result (hooray!). </p>
  
  <p>The downside seems to be a gone away error when the machine wakes up. This never happened before changing the connection style. </p>
  
  <p>Is it possible that the cached connection is closed, but continues to be returned? Is it possible to reset a <code>PDO</code> connection or reset the connection pool via <code>PHP</code> inside a catch block?</p>