*** SOLUTIONS POST HERE - To the iOS 5 & iCloud Apple ID Fiasco...

Question

PLEASE POST ALL YOUR SOLUTIONS HERE
There are so many topics for this now, it's mind numbing to find some answers.
I'll do my best to post some realizations that I've had, and methods to work around what Apple hasn't properly explained yet.
Issue: E-mail for my Apple ID says it's "already taken" and I need to reset my password
DISCOVERY #1
When first setting up iOS 5 and iCloud on a device that has just been updated, it will automatically plug in your short formed,
username for the Apple ID and insert a saved password. On the next screen, it asks you for an email address for an Apple ID.
If you use the same email address that you always have, then it will say it's already taken.. Why is this?
The first login screen when setting up iOS 5 is asking for an email NOT a username. What your device will
automatically insert needs to be backspaced out. You'll notice the form says [example: [email protected]].
Once you put your actual email in instead of a username it will allow you to continue with setup.
DISCOVERY #2
Even when I get my iCloud set up, it tells me my email is not verified in my settings. Yet I don't get a confirmation email from
Apple in order to verify. If I login to appleid.apple.com with my email it says I havn't verified the email still. If I ask it to send
me a verification email, it won't send. If I create a new email and use that as my primary email, it'll send a verification.
I now have a separate iTunes Apple ID and a brand new email address to process my iCloud Apple ID... Do I really have to use 2?
No. After a very frustrating process of creating a separate Apple ID email and verifying through appleid.apple.com,
I logged out and decided to log back in to appleid.apple.com using my already established iTUNES username and
password... NOT the email address associated with my iTunes username!
It then showed me my quiet_dime Apple ID and asked me to link my email address I've used with it for years
to make the iCloud Apple ID and iTunes Apple ID paired into one login/profile.
I'm not sure why this is necessary, because it was already linked before iCloud. But head to http://appleid.apple.com, login with your
iTunes username and password (not your email) and link your two already existing accounts together into one.
I know there's a lot more problems than this, but if you have a FIX, please post it here!

Answer 1

I'm so screwed it's not even funny.
It seems I've destroyed my itunes username as nothing works to log in with that anymore.
I CAN log into itunes using my email address.
I can not update nor download any apps because my itunes username is automatically entered and no password works.
When I got to appleid and ask for email verification of my itunes ID, it says an email verification has been sent, but none arrives at any of my inboxes.  Where it goes, nobody knows.
Not knowing how much it would screw me up, I deleted the new account I created in iCloud and TRIED to log in with my regular apple ID.  It says I need to verify my email address.
When I go to apple ID sure enough, my email address is marked as needing to be verified.  Clicking on that link does nothing.
I FOUND the email I got some time ago when I had to verify my email address and clicked the "Verify Now" link in that and the page I went to told me that MY EMAIL ADDRESS HAD ALREADY BEEN VERIFIED and that is IS VERIFIED!  Except is isn't.
So now I cannot use iCloud, cannot download any apps, cannot updated any apps, cannot home shrare my itunes, cannot log in with my itunes username, and cannot seem to fix any of this.
I'm pretty screwed and there doesn't seem to be any way for me to fix any of this.