Brief Answer:
Control of stress/anxiety, say no to foods and beverages that do not suit

Detailed Answer:
Hi.
Thanks for your query.

Read and understood your history:
You have been told that you have IBS since the time you were in middle school and now you are 47. Cholecystectomy done.
Your concerns are:
Terrible stomach cramps with griping pain, cold sweats and diarrhea.
For this I would suggest you the following.
Get the stool tested for 3 consecutive days. This is imperative as any one of the tests may show up something suggestive of something that can help to get a proper treatment.
I hope other tests must have already been done like blood sugar, thyroid function tests, liver function tests, CT scan of the abdomen and so on.
Endoscopy and colonoscopy already done and show mild diverticulitis.

It may be worth to get a course of an antibiotic, metronidazole for 5 days done.
Continue taking pre and probiotics, multivitamins with anti-oxdants like Lycopene and so on.
Therapeutic dosages of vitamin A and D helps in some cases
Control of the stress and anxiety are the keys in control of IBS. This can be done in many ways and you have to adopt to the one most suitable for you.
Nothing goes wrong in keeping away all the works, relations, incidences, occasions and so on that instigate or increase your stress and/or anxiety.
Occasional taking of medicines to alleviate this can help a lot in your case.
As for the foods, you have to practically make a list of the foods and beverages that are suitable for your stomach and continue taking it and the separate list of the foods, beverages, additives and so on that instigate/enhance your problems which you have to strictly stop consuming.

I hope this will help you a lot as it helps all my patients with similar problems.

Your Next query: (I can't understand why ,for example, I would eat one bite of a meatball and within 1 minute my stomach will swell and I will have extreme cramping. How could it happen that fast?)
As you may be aware of, all our systems are governed by an intricate balance of hormones and the nervous system. This applies even for the gastrointestinal tract.
The moment you take a bite of a meatball, both the system and particularly the autonomic nervous system comes into action sending the signals down causing the bloating and cramps. This is the body's way to tell you to not have it.
I hope I have tried my best to simplify both the aspects.
Please feel free to ask any further relevant queries if you need to or if you feel that there is a gap-of-communication.

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