As the php-manual states cookies will not be loaded before the page is reloaded.
Is there any easy way to make the make circumvent this and have the cookie values come up on first time?
You can set the cookies and then also set the same variables manualy in your script. You could make a new "setcookie()" function that automatically does this for you.
You can put :
if( !$done_once_already ) { setcookie(whatever); Header("Location: $PHP_SELF?done_once_already=1"); }
.. at the top, or somesuch.
/M