Yes I am exactly the same. But I do know what sets me off. I don't have Diverticular Disease or diverticulitis. Too me it also sounds like it could be irritable bowel syndrome or the Diverticular Disease like you said going on your family hisotry. I was under the impression that Diverticular Disease usually gets worse with age and that younger people (I don't know your age) usally have it much more mild then when they are older. Both can be difficult to diagnose without a colonoscopy.
Do you know what sets it off? A friend has diverticulitis and he can't have anything with nuts no strawberry jam or any jam as they have those tiny nuts in them, strawberries, etc or anything little like that that gets stuck in the pockets of the bowel which cause a flare up. For me protein, cream, cheeses etc make me really sick and within a 5-10min period of eating it I have terrible pain and offensive you know what.
If you can diagnose exactly what the problem is (not self diagnosis) you can probably work out what makes it worse so you can avoid especially when your out.
Sounds more like IBS to me. I don't know if you remember 3 years ago when my DH was very ill and almost died. Well he had a severe bout of diverticulitis and had to have his sigmoid colon removed due to the extent of the diverticuli. It is fairly uncommon in the younger generations, which is why he almost died, as Doctors just don't think of it. He had persistant diarrhoea and he smelled sick after he had been in the toilet, like he had gastro. Seeing yours seems to be related to what you eat, then I would think something like IBS.
It is frustrating when the older generations go on about diverticular disease, as from what I have seen it presents quite differently in those that are younger. In DH's case he had 16 diverticuli get infected and burst. The regime he had to follow during recovery was very strict and quite different to what the elderly often have to do. Oddly enough he had to avoid eating a lot of fibre.
Definitely get a proper diagnosis. I suffer from IBS and have found improvement by working with a naturopath, so that is another path you can look at.
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