If you find that your setting cannot be updated using a .htaccess file, consider using ini_set(), instead:
http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.ini-set.php. Settings overridden using a call to the ini_set() only hold for the execution time of the script that the call is made in, and for that part of the execution time
after the call is made (along with any scripts that are included after this point, as well, of course).
You could, if you wanted, switch certain settings on and off in this way, as you made your way down the page: in the absence of anything better, this approach can be used as a rudimentary form of runtime debugging.