diff --git a/source/pdo_sqlsrv/pdo_parser.cpp b/source/pdo_sqlsrv/pdo_parser.cpp
index 9bc11845..2951a7dd 100644
--- a/source/pdo_sqlsrv/pdo_parser.cpp
+++ b/source/pdo_sqlsrv/pdo_parser.cpp
@@ -415,9 +415,12 @@ void conn_string_parser:: parse_conn_string( TSRMLS_D )
 // Primary function which parses out the named placeholders from a sql string.
 void sql_string_parser::parse_sql_string( TSRMLS_D ) {
     try {
+        int start_pos = -1;
         while ( !this->is_eos() ) {
-            int start_pos = -1;
-
+            // if pos is -1, then reading from a string is an initialized read
+            if ( pos == -1 ) {
+                next();
+            }
             // skip until a '"', '\'', ':' or '?'
             char sym;
             while ( this->orig_str[pos] != '"' && this->orig_str[pos] != '\'' && this->orig_str[pos] != ':' && this->orig_str[pos] != '?' && !this->is_eos() ) {