STUPID Problem! Of course that email's taken.. by MY Apple ID! {Please help!}

Question

A lot of people are having similar issues...
There has to be SOME kind of solve for this,
or have Apple's servers really gone that dumb..??
I made an Apple ID in 2007, last year, I linked that ID to an email address
upon Apple's request--a gmail account.
It's the one I'm using right now: quiet_dime
Updating to iOS5 on my iPad asks me to enter my Apple ID (login name)
and password. No problem; it's already in.
Then it asks for my Apple ID.
(Wait... Didn't I already..? Oh well..)
This is an email address, so I enter my email associated with MY APPLE ID...
Nope!
"Try Another Apple ID
This Apple ID is already being used."
Well, OF COURSE it is! By MY APPLE ID!!!!!!!!!
What the H3LL is going on???
It tells me if this is my account to reset the password (which I don't
understand how that would help anyway, because it's not asking for
a password associated with my email, just my login name...)
That doesn't work either.
Has there been ANY solution to this?
Because I've been looking for a few hours now and have found nothing.
"It just works"
Bull****.
(EDIT: Oh, and btw, I'm not keen on creating a brand new email I have to
check constantly in order to setup my seperate Apple ID for iCloud. This makes
no sense. I have an Apple ID for iTunes; why can't they be the same??)

Answer 1

I think I've found (part of) the problem..
When you start to set up with your Apple ID, the device will
automatically put in your iTunes username (like it did before...).
The problem is that the Apple ID form is asking for your email address.
This is why it asks you to enter in an email address (which won't work)
on the next screen.
If you erase the iTunes username that is filled in you'll see that it's asking
for "[email protected]" NOT your username.
I'm wondering WHY the device is setup to remember your username when
it's asking for an email. If it hadn't done this, then a lot of confusion
could have been avoided!
So I ended up reseting my password on my iTunes (Apple) ID, and to match them
up, just reset the password on my Apple ID..
I've reset the password to the same email address for Apple twice to the same
password. (???)
AND NOW MY iCLOUD WON'T VERIFY!!!!