Very weird... variable pass from PHP to Flash

I’ve been doing Flash for a while now and have loaded variables from external text files but I’ve come across a perplexing problem…

I have a PHP file that generates a string of variables to pass to Flash:
echo $string; (where $string="&testvar=hello&":wink:

I load the PHP file in Flash using:
loadVariablesNum("…test.php",0,“GET”);

Now get this… if I test the movie, the debugger shows my variable right there under level #0… it shows:
Variable _level0.testvar = “hello”

But it’s a phantom variable!!!
If I try to use it… for example, do something like:
my_txt.text = _level0.textvar;
…then all I get in the dynamic text box is “undefined”!

WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?
please help!