Simple Autism Treatment -- Epsom Salts Bath

Epsom Salts

Pour 2-3 cups Epsom Salts into the warm bathwater.
Have the child/adult soak for about 20 minutes before washing up or adding soap.

If you add bubble bath or something to the water, this can get irritating if you soak in it for that long. We do this about 3 - 4 times per week, but I suppose you could do it every night if you wanted to.

Epsom Salts helps in several ways; the magnesium helps them with a type of incomplete digestion that many people with Autism suffer from (yes, small amounts are absorbed into the skin.) The magnesium also helps tone down leg cramps, and numbs the skin slightly so they can sleep better. It is very helpful to take the bath just before bedtime. Autistic persons have very sensitive skin, so the mild numbing is perfect for them. Autistic persons often have trouble settling down to sleep, and an Epsom Salts bath before bed helps with this. I also sometimes use it before we go to a noisy, over-stimulating type event.

Epsom Salts are inexpensive, and you can get them at any place that sells pharmaceuticals. They can be taken internally, in small amounts (will cause loose stools) and so if the person gets some in their mouth, its not toxic. People have used it for constipation for years.

Here is the current rationale for why this helps people with Autism:

Sulfate is used for many functions in the body, including detoxification, maintaining the lining of the gut, and hormone production. Some children with autism have a low level of sulfate in their bodies, due to a variety of reasons including poor absorption in the gut, excess loss in the urine, poor recycling of sulfate by the kidney, or oxidant stress and inflammation can shut down cysteine dioxygenase, which throttles the cysteine -> sulfate route.

Testing:
Blood testing can be used to check for levels of free and total plasma sulfate, and this is probably the more reliable test. Plasma cysteine can also be informative. (Urine testing of free and total sulfate may be useful to look for excessive loss of sulfate, but this is only one of several possible causes of low sulfate in the body, and should not be solely relied on to assess sulfate status).

Alternatively, since Epsom salt baths are very safe, one could simply try them for up to several weeks and look for improvements in behavior and functioning (see below).

Treatment:

Tapan Audhya evaluated many different ways to increase plasma sulfate levels in children with autism who had low levels. The two most effective methods were oral MSM (500-2000 mg depending on size and sulfate level) and Epsom Salt (magnesium sulfate) baths – 2 cups of Epsom salts in warm/hot water, soak for 20 minutes, 2-3x/week. A few children did not tolerate MSM, but Epsom salt baths are generally very well tolerated. (T. Audhya, Role of Sulfation, presentation at Autism/Asperger’s Conference in Anaheim, CA, February 2007.)

Many parents and physicians have anecdotally reported that Epsom salt baths were beneficial to their children. However, there is less experience with MSM for children with autism, and more research is needed.--Source: "Summary of Biomedical Treatments for Autism" by James B. Adams, Ph.D.