HELP: User control problem (with drop down list populated by db)

[VB Programmer]

I have a user control that has a drop down list. Initially it has no items.
The items are loaded into the drop down list in the Page_Load event of the
user control. Basically if MyDropDownList.Items.Count=0 (first time) I open
up a database and populate the drop down list.

The user control is on the top of several other pages. I put a break point
on the Page Load of the user control and MyDropDownList.Items.Count is
ALWAYS 0, even though I step through the code where it adds items to the
list. It seems like it's refreshing the user control to it's default or
something.

Any ideas?