Hi,

Although I was never diagnosed with leaky gut, I did suffer from candida for 2 years, and an undiagnosed tapeworm, which wrecked my digestion/vitamin absorption in a similar way to what you're experiencing.

I've used Epsom Salts MANY times in the past - both when I was sick and healthy - and I found that when I was sick, I needed to do it multiple times before I got the good results I was looking for. After the first Epsom Salt flush, I would be more bloated, and experience symptoms like rashes, burping, and even further irregularity in my bowel movements. But after doing it another 1-2 times (and drinking TONS of water, plus taking really good probiotics [http://www.amazon.com/Klaire-Labs-Ther-Biotic-Complete-60vcaps/dp/B001PYXL2O]), it really flushed everything out without the negative side effects.

But that alone won't fix your problems, and with candida and poor digestive health from leaky gut, you'll need to do a LOT more. To treat digestive issues I had to take digestive enzymes along with HCL pills (because my stomach acid wasn't actually high enough, despite feeling bloated all the time) at every meal/snack. I obviously took vitamins to supplement what I was having from food, since they weren't being absorbed (Vitamin B complex - B6, B12, B2, and niacin - along with vitamin D, and magnesium citrate). All were capsules with powder - I recommend pure encapsulations for the viatmin D and magnesium, and metabolic Maintenance for the B complex.

I took 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water 2x per day. Also, you are probably experiencing bad inflammation that you're not even realizing is happening. I took cod liver oil, or fish oil pills 1-2x per day, as well as drinking 2 tbsp of whole leaf aloe vera juice at least once a day (or when I was experiencing bad bloating/burping). I recommend Lily of the Desert Whole Leaf Aloe Vera Juice.

To kill candida, first do an anti-fungal medication prescribed by a dr (assuming you've tested positive for candida). If you can't get this, along with all the stuff outlined above, completely avoid all bread, sugar, most fruits (tropical fruits and even berries, but apples are ok), mushrooms, and soy sauce. While you're doing this I strongly recommend doing the CandiGone brand natural cleanse - you can buy the kit at Whole foods or online. Using enemas/ Epsom Salts actually helped me get rid of the colonies while I was doing all of this.

Finally, if all of this doesn't fully cure the candida overgrowth, I'd follow the candida protocol (as close as you can) outlined by Bill Thompson from Earth Clinic. It's intense but I did it for about 3 weeks and it was really powerful:

http://www.amazon.com/Candida-Killing-Sweetly-Remedies-Infection/dp/0982896387

Good luck!