Scared again....herpes?

Follow up to this, which i posted months ago:
"I've been with my girlfriend for almost 2 years now and she was checked for STD's roughly a year ago which came back as negative. This was about 6-7 months after we started having unprotected vaginal and oral sex. HOWEVER, about 2 months ago I had about 2 minutes of unprotected oral sex and about 2 minutes (was too drunk to continue) of protected sex.

Fast forward to 3 days ago when my girlfriend and I had sex for the first time in about 2 weeks. Well, she wasn't very lubricated and we kinda just forced me in after several attempts, which was somewhat painful on both parts. The next morning we had sex 2 more times and again they weren't the most easy of entry. Later that day I had some itch on my penis, but I brushed it off. It continued all day and started to worry me. I did some inspecting to find 1 or 2 small pimple looking bumps on the wrinkled skin directly below the head. They were small and red, they did not hurt, but they itched BAD!

They have been itching for the past 2 days, not super bad, but bad enough to make me notice every now-and-then. They have not formed blisters and they aren't painful, but I did some research on herpes and it got me scared! They don't secrete any liquid as far as I can tell and they look to be somewhat scabbed over already. The thing that worries me the most is that my lymph nodes in my groin area are kinda swollen and tender and that I've had some cold like symptoms. The cold symptoms aren't bad and we've been having alot of weather changes lately around my area.

So Basically, could these couple little bumps that itch, but don't hurt, my swollen lymph nodes and hint of cold like symptoms be because of genital herpes? Could this just be irritation? Maybe a small scrape?"

Okay months have passed with no problems. Until this month. I've had 2 rather large bumps form, both on the left side (same side as the previous small bumps) of my penis. One at the base and one at the tip. They get to the size of a pencil eraser. The first one, never broke open and really didnt get very irritated. No puss, no open sore...it kinda seemed like a pimple b/c i could some times squeeze it and hard white material would come out...like a pimple, very little pain at all, very little itching. The most recent one formed about 3 days ago right near the head...which makes it a pain b/c my clothes rub on it more. This one has gotten bigger than the last one, mainly due to the added irritation of the clothes. This one has not opened or oozed anything at all and seems rock hard. My girlfriend (same one) and I have had both unprotected and protected oral, anal and vaginal sex since my last post. She has never ever brought any problems up to me at all. I'm scared out of my mind and I'm stressed which probably makes it all worse. I've read many many online finding about herpes and i just dont know. How long would herpes take to show up? Sex with 2 girls in 2.5 years. Symptoms now?

[Alan Rockoff, MD]

I don't think any of the symptoms you describe sound like herpes.  They sound instead like irritation and blocked follicles.  Question: rather than worry and examine and squeeze, why not ask a doctor to take a look, do tests of necessary, and give you the reassurance you need?

That's what I would recommend, at any rate.

Take care.

Dr. Rockoff

[NickW]

The bump has became dry and rough on the outside, does not look like a scab or feel like a scab...just feels like dry skin. No real pain unless severly irritated by my clothes (not even pain, just irritation), no itching, no puss, no fluid or opening...I check it on a regular basis. No night sweats, i feel fine. What would be the typical symptoms after 5 days of herpes. Also are these types of symptoms the ones you would see after 6-7 months of last possible sexual encounter that might give you herpes?