Thank You so much,
Your answer make me so much at peace now.
Your doctor is ridiculous by saying you always need to have protected sex especially with HSV-1. Most of the population carries HSV-1 orally (cold sores), and most of them are infected as a child. You can assume you have HSV-1 orally if you've never had genital symptoms. You are only contagious from your mouth, not your genitals, so there is no need for protected genital-to-genital sex. You should discuss with your partner if protected oral sex is worth it or not since she is at risk of getting it genitally (if she doesn't have it orally) from you. There's no way to tell how long you've had the virus at this point, but most likely you've had it since you were a child. Most people with HSV-1 don't get recurring symptoms, so you're in the norm.
How can people have a family/kids with HSV-1? Are you serious? Check it, 57-90% of the U.S. population is infected with HSV-1 or cold sores, and they're able to date, have kids, have sex, or whatever whenever they want. You might have to use precautions when giving your g/f oral sex, but there's at least a 50% chance that she has it too, and if she does then she won't get it again. Bro, you're normal since the majority of the American population has HSV-1. Your current/future partners most likely have it too. Seriously, you have absolutely nothing to worry about, man. Only 10% of Americans make it out of life without getting HSV-1 (cold sores), so you were most likely bound to get this sooner or later.