using mysql_query() twice?

I am curious if using the same mysql_query() function twice causes some kind of problem. It seems that if I use $result = mysql_query($sql, $db); if (mysql_fetch_array($result)) {

    while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result) or die("You lose.  No data fetched.")) {
         // print some data
         // print a simple sentence to see if the WHILE statement even executes
    }

} else {

    // print "No results match your criteria"

} In this, I have used the $result variable twice. $result is essentially nothing more than a mysql_query() function. If I do the above, then the IF statement is true but the WHILE statement doesn't seem to produce its intended effect. In other words, I get the die() message "You lose. No data fetched." This leads me to believe that I can't run two instances of mysql_query() or perhaps mysql_fetch_array(). Does anyone know for sure if this is the case? Erik