iTunes 10.5 & 10.5.1 - Constant rainbow wheel of death!

So I have been running Lion with 10.5 since it was released and have had no problems. Last night I plugged in my iPad 2 and iTunes started up. However, after a couple of minutes I noticed my iPad was not showing up. So I tried to scroll through the library windows and saw the spinning rainbow wheel. I restarted it and same thing. Restarted the iMac, same thing. Ran disc utilities, no problems, restarted iMac, same thing.

Updated to 10.5.1 today. It ran the process no problem, launched 10.5.1, checked the library and the iTunes window came up. When I try to click on ANYTHING it starts the rainbow wheel. I attempted to uninstall iTunes, but an error pops up telling me that I cannot uninstall iTunes because it is an integral part of Lion.

I tried to log into the Apple support forums and it tells me my Apple ID is having problems and asks me to verify it. So I go into manage my ID, it is already verified, so I go back and try to sign into community support and get the same message saying my ID is having problems.

I AM SO FRUSTRATED! I never have problems with my Apple products that I cannot solve.

So, here we are. Anyone have any advice on what the heck to do to fix iTunes?

Thanks

iMac 10.7.2