Children get worms, and too many sweets might give some children nightmares, but I don't believe that children get worms from sweets, no matter what one doctor might have said. Children do get worms from playing in sandboxes (as one example) which have been soiled by animals (cats)...they can get worms from playing with family pets....dirty fingers get put into mouths, and that results in worms.
Would I dose myself with ivermectin? No. I know several people that have used banamine on themselves, and that's an especially stupid thing to do. People have dosed themselves with bute...and have died as a result--not necessarily after one dose, but after repeated doses.
There was a thing on TV recently about parasites. Mention was made of how babies today are being raised in an environment that is too sterile. They don't get parasites, and this can actually lead to health problems--babies build a stronger immune system if they do play in sandboxes & such. When there is nothing for the immune system to "fight"--such as parasites--in some cases it then turns on itself, resulting in the auto immune illnesses. One man who had MS went to some little third world tropical country--I'll remember which country as soon as I post this but at the moment I'm drawing a blank!--specifically to give himself hookworm. He took off his shoes & socks & walked barefoot through raw sewage. He said the sewage, and the smell of it in the heat & humidity, and the feel of it was just repulsive, but he did it, and succeeded in giving himself hookworm. That cured his MS, if cured is the right word--anyway, it's been in remission since then. According to that program, people can actually be given hookworm by their doctor--it looked like the hookworms, or eggs? are placed on the skin of the arm, with a patch applied over top, and the worms penetrates the skin and infect the patient. They said this is a new treatment being used for a variety of auto immune diseases. They even listed Crohns and colitis, which I hadn't really thought were auto immune diseases (I really know nothing about either disease).
As yucky as the thought of having worms is, after seeing that program I guess if one does have some it's not necessarily a bad thing--though if I have them I'd rather not know they're there!
So no, unless my doctor were to specifically prescribe ivermectin I won't be deworming myself with it.