Epsom Salt Baths

HEALTH INFORMATION SERIES

Epsom salts or Magnesium sulphate is an old traditional remedy for circulatory insufficiency, lymphatic or liver congestion, arthritis and all toxaemia conditions. By soaking the whole body or the affected part in a hot solution of Epsom Salts you can both encourage blood supply to the area, supplying healing nutrients and oxygen, and also draw out accumulated toxins which predispose to irritation and inflammation.

Whole Body Treatment

Draw a hot bath and add 2 - 4 cupfuls of Epsom salts. Get into the bath and keep adding hot water until it is as hot as you can bear. 

Stay in the water for 15 minutes, adding more hot water whenever the bath cools a little. 

If you have arthritic joints then, using a small, soft nail brush, scrub the affected joints under the water until they are red and tingling.

When you are ready to get out of the bath, don't dry yourself. Just wrap up in an old sheet and go straight to bed. Protect the mattress with a rubber sheet or lie on an old towel, and then pile on blankets and use a hot water bottle. 

The idea is that you will sweat all night and will excrete many toxins through the skin. The sheet you are wrapped in may become quite stained. 

Repeat this process once a week until the sheet no longer is stained in the morning, indicating that you are now excreting normally through the skin and have greatly reduced your toxin load.

Localized Treatment

Use about ½ cup of Epsom salts to 2 pints of water.

Place the salts in a basin and pour on boiling water. Immerse the hands, feet or elbows in the basin and soak for 15 minutes. Do not dry afterwards, allow the part to air dry or wrap in a cotton bandage to preserve the heat. 

For more awkward parts of the body (e.g knee or shoulder) use a flannel wrung out in the solution and laid directly over the skin, as hot as you can bear. Keep wringing out the flannel so that it stays hot.