Sending Login/Pwd through Shared SSL to PHP/MySQL

I'm adding secure login to a PHP 3 web application on Linux/Apache. I
can't afford my own SSL certificate, so I'm using the shared SSL
provided by my web hosting company.

I tried this back in 2001, and I remember running into a snag. I was
able to get the login/pwd to the PHP script on the web server, via the
shared SSL connection with no problems. I was also able to connect my
script to the database using a regular connection. When I put the two
partial solutions together, it wouldn't work. Going though the shared
SSL connection, I lost whatever permissions I needed to connect to the
MySQL database. I kept getting errors about not being able to
(something) the MySQL server. I couldn't get any help from my hosting
company at the time (a freebie), so I ended up using a less-secure
login :-P

Has anyone else run into this or a similar problem? If so, how did you
get around it (or did you get around it)?

Thanks,

Gerard Vignes
http://www.GerardVignes.com
Seattle, WA

.