special chars in mysql query

[eluser]Yours3lf[/eluser]
Hi,

I have a db in which I have rows with various data that contain characters like (),.:-_!
and they might contain ' and "
If I run a query through codeigniter using $this->db->query(...) I get these chars dropped out. I think it might be because of the escaping of queries. This means that I can't access these rows.
How can I preserve these characters in my query? (maybe except ' and " )

Best regards,
Yours3!f