Can't Change email address associated to my Atlassian Account

[dev]

 I am following the steps from here: https://confluence.atlassian.com/cloudkb/changing-atlassian-account-email-addresses-969508513.html.  I make sure the new email address does not belong to an existing Atlassian Account.  So recieve the verification email in my new email account. But when I click the "Verify your Email" button, it takes me to the login page and asks me for a passoword, but there is no Atlassian account associated to that email address, that is the point right? And if I create a new account, then I get an email saying that the email belongs to an existing Atlassian account. So I am in a loop here.

Can anyone help me? thanks 

[Sal]

Hi @dev! If a different Atlassian account already uses your desired email address, these are the steps you'll need to follow to change it. As a quick recap, you must release the desired email address from the existing Atlassian account so it can be used on the original account.

To ensure your email address has been released, you can try logging in to the Atlassian account associated with this email. If you are successful, you'll know the account is still active. This means you won't be able to use this email until it's released.

You can release an email from an Atlassian account by:

• Changing the email address of the Atlassian account to a different email you have access to
• Or you can trigger the deletion of the Atlassian account using the desired email and wait for the 14-day deletion period. After this period, your email will be available to be used on the original account

I hope this helps!