Degelatinated Deer Horn

Traditional Use

Primary Actions

• Warms the Kidneys and assists Yang while being more astringent and stabilizing than richer deer tonics - Lu Jiao Shuang is used for low back soreness, impotence, enuresis, and frequent urination from deficiency-cold.
• Astringes to stop bleeding in deficiency-cold patterns - traditional indications include uterine bleeding, prolonged spotting, and other leakage patterns when warming containment is needed.
• Supports the Spleen and Stomach in deficiency-cold - unlike some stronger Yang tonics, Lu Jiao Shuang is also used for poor appetite, loose stool, and cold middle-burner weakness.

Secondary Actions

• This is the horn residue left after producing antler gelatin, and traditional teaching treats that processing history as part of why Lu Jiao Shuang is more drying, stabilizing, and leakage-focused than Lu Jiao Jiao.
• It is often favored when weakness and leakage coexist and the treatment goal is to warm and secure rather than to richly nourish.

Classic Formulas

• Suo Yang Gu Jing Wan - formula tradition using Lu Jiao Shuang to reinforce Kidney Yang and secure essence in spermatorrhea and lower-gate weakness.
• Leakage and uterine-bleeding formulas with Long Gu, Mu Li, and Tu Si Zi - common astringing-warming combination logic when instability of the lower burner is prominent.

Classical References

• TCM Wiki describes Lu Jiao Shuang as astringent, salty, and warm, entering the Liver and Kidney channels, with actions of warming the Kidneys, tonifying Yang, and astringing to stop bleeding.
• Traditional use also extends the herb into deficiency-cold digestive weakness, showing that its stabilizing profile is broader than purely sexual-tonic use.