What is meant by "dar pequeños embistes" in this sentence?

What is meant by "dar pequeños embistes" in this sentence?
 

I have the following sentence:

"Lo recuerdo muy bien porque por esos días la enfermedad de mi madre comenzaba a dar pequeños embistes, me habían despedido y en mi cuenta corriente aparecieron los primeros números rojos."

"Embiste" seems to be translated as "ram"/"gore"/"lunge" which would make the phrase literally mean "give small lunges/rams..", but this doesn't make much sense to me.

It may make a little more sense if you substitute 'small jolts' (describing sudden lunging). A sickness can cause small jolts to occur.

Other than that, I would need to know the situation better (more detail/context).
The person was fired and his bank account was in the red. That would make me jolt awake at night, even if I didn't have his mother's illness.