Publisher user defined style forgets it's properties

[Worker]

In a Pubisher (1.8.3.641) document on Win 10 (ver. 1903) I created a text frame, changed it's properties like number of coloums etc. and created a new user defined style for these properties. Then, for many new text frames, I used this style to assign these properties to those new frames successfully. At some point, after editing my document and performing some work on it, trying to use my style to assign its properties to a newly opened text frame it does not work any more. It is as if there are no properties present in this style, whatever I try. My work around is to delete this not working style and define a new one which then will work for some time until it finally also looses its properties. I have experienced this behavior several times now.

What could I be doing wrong? What actions on my behalf could cause the style to forget it's properties?

Thanks for any tips on this,

Regards, Worker