query on recursive table with order by and limit

[cretaceous]

I have a recursive table and I want to be able to limit results for pagination..

what I did first was:

SELECT * FROM rvus WHERE scat_id =$scat_id AND cat_id=$cat_id AND tied_id=0

(the 0 for "tied_id" gave me parent results)

then I'd do a nested query :

SELECT * FROM rvus WHERE scat_id =$scat_id AND cat_id=$cat_id AND tied_id=parent ID

(for the child results)

but I dont know how to do a limit 0,10 on those two combined...

and this combined query:

$result = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM rvus WHERE scat_id =$scat_id AND cat_id=$cat_id  ORDER BY heading  LIMIT 0,10 ", $db)

returns the results but strictly in alpha order
I want a parent then its children, next parent then its children etc

the db has the column "tied_id" where parents = 0 and children will all have the parent id

(table doesnt recurse more than one level)
any ideas appreciated - use CASE somehow??

[toxic_brain]

an important note for those use LIMIT for pagination.

if specify ORDER BY with the LIMIT 20,5 it will retrieve 5 records from 20 the position and then sort.

eg:

Age

50
40
10
5
60

LIMIT 2, 2 ORDER BY age

10
40

not

5
10