Why won't Word styles behave?

[sandy]

It seems in every project I do with MS Word, at some point the styles start behaving badly. For example:



* I apply a style to a paragraph and another style gets whacked out. Say, I call one paragraph a heading and all of my bullets on the bullet style disappear, or the tabs are suddenly set to 5 inches instead of 1/4 inch.

* I modify a style and the modifications don't show up.

* Numbering of pages, paragraphs, sections... don't even get me started.

I have never had this problem with framemaker, and among tech writers I know Word is generally looked at like the app to avoid at all costs. At the moment I am stuck with it. Is there a way to get it to stop acting like a mischevious toddler?

I am not inexperienced and not trying to do anything complicated. Just want to create a simple user guide with steps, numbers, graphics, etc.