Michaels told Local 2, "The high pH in the water itself helps permanently deactivate or permanently turn off that pepsin and that's where you get relief."

Wendy Nielsen, wife for former Houston Oilers quarterback Giff Nielsen, added, "Water is so important. You need to drink a lot of water and it needs to be high pH."

Wendy Nielsen has also adopted what's known as the low-acid Alkaline Diet.

She explained, "Just every single part of my health has improved as a result of the way I eat and the way I sleep and I need to exercise, of course. It's not magic. But as I drink lots of this pure water and as I eat things that are much healthier, I feel better. I feel lighter. I have more energy."

She and her daughter-in-law, Taylor, co-author a blog called pHabulife.

Taylor told Local 2, "Drinking really, really, good water was really important and just having really, healthy, whole, organic food, just nothing really processed, nothing too sugary, just helped me feel the energy that I needed."

A typical Alkaline Diet lunch is homemade pasta sauce, whole wheat pasta and lots of salad with low acid dressing, even crepes for dessert.

Wendy Nielsen said, "It's good, common sense: organic, whole, local."

Wendy Nielsen used to suffer from a chronic cough, which can be a symptom of GERD.

She explained, "It was debilitating. It got to where I'd have to look for exits everywhere because I'd start choking. My goal was to manage it and to make it better. Within three months, I was feeling so much better that I started to make it a way of life."

Dupont agreed that for many GERD sufferers, changes in diet can sometimes help.

He said, "The theory is if you can decrease the acid level, you decrease the activity of this enzyme and so symptomatically, you may be better with the decrease of acid level and this enzyme as well. The jury's still out on these kinds of things, but it certainly can't hurt."

He said despite lifestyle changes, 10 to 15 percent of patients still need long term treatment.

Dupont told Local 2 that by the time patients make an appointment to see him.

 "It's gotten to point where they've failed the 'water test,' so we usually have to try other things," he said.

Dupont said there are new medications, even surgical options currently being developed.

But, if you're experiencing vomiting, weight loss, bleeding or have suffered from chronic reflux for at least five years, you'll need an endoscopy to make sure there is no long term damage.