Decoding HTML Entities from POST

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
I've got a sticky problem here and I'm hoping somebody can help me out.

I'm using the form_validation library as it works a treat but ...
After using "alpha_dash" and refilling a form field with $this->input->post('x') it naturally outputs the html entity of some characters.

I've tried to wrap the value with the native html_entity_decode but with no joy.

Any hints or tips greatly appreciated
BEAR