Is Everlywell Legit? Surprising Discoveries and a Complete Review

Is Everlywell legit? After thorough company research and a firsthand consumer experience, we answer the question everyone wants to know.

What is Everlywell?

Everlywell is a U.S. based company that was founded in 2015. They deliver at-home health tests to consumers who can administer them in the comfort and privacy of their own homes. Those tests then get sent off to a laboratory via a prepaid shipping label, where they are analyzed by an experienced clinical team. Once the tests are analyzed, the results are digitally sent to the consumer.

Everlywell manufacturers dozens of different at home lab tests to help you take control of your health. They produce tests for everything from food sensitivity, vitamin deficiencies, heart health, heavy metals, cancer screening, allergies, Lyme disease, women’s health, men’s health, and so much more. View the full list of Everlywell at home tests here.

Did you know: In many states, consumers are not permitted to order their own tests without the review and authorization of a board-certified medical doctor. To obtain independent physician review of customer test requests and test results, Everlywell works with a third-party independent network of board-certified physicians. These physicians provide authorization, review, and consultation services for Everlywell customers related to the customers’ tests. (1)

Why I Wanted to Get a Grip on My Health

I’ve wanted to try a food sensitivity test ever since I heard about them a few years ago. I have had a few health problems over the years but never really found out the source to what was making me feel ill. Even with clean(ish) eating, I still felt kind of down in the dumps. Standard symptoms for me include bloating, stomach cramping, migraines, and overall sluggishness. Could it be something I’m eating that’s doing more harm than good? 

Should I Try an At Home Lab Test?

The idea of a food sensitivity test was always very intriguing to me. I’d tried unsuccessfully to get a better grip on my health but food sensitivities were one thing that I had not experimented with yet. The idea of getting a referral from my doctor go to see another doctor for an allergy test was not thrilling to me – not to mention having paying the sky-high allergist’s bill! I figured, what do I have to lose? I convinced myself to try an at home food sensitivity test first, and if it wasn’t successful I could always go back to my doctor. 

While researching which food sensitivity test to purchase, I looked at a few different companies and decided on using Everlywell. However, the big question I wanted an answer to before I committed was “Is Everlywell legit?”. I’m not one to blindly shell out my hard-earned money so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting ripped off before I paid.  

Is Everlywell a Trustworthy Company?

Prior to purchasing a test, I did my due diligence. I thoroughly reviewed the Everlywell website, checked their credibility, and read several non-biased reviews from multiple different sources. 

Credibility

• Each customer has the ability to speak with a board-certified physician prior to purchasing a test.
• Everlywell has an A+ company rating by the Better Business Bureau. (4/25/21)
• All Everlywell labs and tests comply with Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) mandated regulations.
• Labs used by Everlywell perform third-party proficiency testing on a quarterly basis.
• All partner labs’ testing methods and instruments go through an extensive validation process that includes but is not limited to accuracy, precision, reproducibility, and clinical correlation studies.

Is Everlywell legit when it comes to their credibility? After thorough research, I was convinced that Everlywell is absolutely a credible company. My conclusion was drawn based upon data directly from the Everlywell website along with information presented via trusted third-party websites.

Learn more about Everlywell’s testing measures and partner labs here. 

Unbiased Reviews

Another reason you may be asking if Everlywell is legit is because there’s a mixed bag of reviews out there. I wanted to get to the bottom of where the reviews were coming from and the severity of the complaints.

Amazon Reviews

At the time of this original publication on 4/25/21, the Comprehensive Food Sensitivity Test had a 4.2 star review on Amazon with 10% of reviewers rating it 1 star. That seemed a little too low for comfort for me. Especially since the same test on the Everlywell page had a whopping 83% of people giving it a 5-star rating and absolutely zero 1-star reviews. As I dove in to read the 1-star reviews on Amazon, some of them were complaining about varying results but a lot of them were simply complaining about the speed of getting their results back or that the tests aren’t available in every state. Many of them weren’t even verified purchases.

Better Business Bureau

As previously noted, Everywell holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau. This presents as a shiny gold star to customers in the business world. The BBB rates companies based upon complaint history, type of business, time in business, transparent business practices, failure to honor BBB commitments, licensing and government actions, and advertising issues. However, the biggest concern to me prior to purchase was that their BBB reviews page held the most critical reviews I’ve read from any source.

As of 4/25/21 they only managed to secure an average of a 1.08 star rating for customer reviews. Yikes! 77% of those negative reviews were directly related to problems with a product or service.  Granted, the BBB is typically the source for the poorest reviews online. Consumers typically use this site to file complaints, not provide praise.

Final Thoughts on Reviews

On a positive note, so many users claim that by using the results of their Food Sensitivity Test as a guide to an elimination diet, they were able to treat conditions such as migraines, inflammation, eczema, bloating, cramping, and so much more.  

What I knew for certain was that the positive reviews were too good not to take a chance on this product. So many of the negative reviews had to do with the wait time involved in receiving test results. As a twin mom, I have learned the art of extreme patience. Waiting a few weeks was a non-issue for me. What did I have to lose? I decided to bite the bullet and order without hesitation.

Is Everlywell legit when it comes to reviews? The answer to this is inconclusive. I was unable to comfortably determine whether these kits are legit based upon reviews alone. 

Everlywell Food Sensitivity Comprehensive Test Review

Did you know that Everlywell has an Amazon storefront? I love the convenience of ordering items from Amazon, but for this purchase I placed my order directly through the Everlywell website. When purchasing an in-depth product or service, I always order directly from the companies’ website incase any problems arise. 

Ordering my Everlywell test was extremely easy. There was also no medical information to fill out which made it a lot less intimidating. Besides standard credit or debit card payments, I also had the option to use PayPal, Google Pay, or even use money out of my HSA or FSA account. My order was processed quickly and I received my test in just a few days.

Before you take your test, you must register your Everlywell kit. This is a simple online process that connects your kit ID number to you as an individual. Taking an Everlywell test is not complicated, if you read the instructions first. In addition, Everlywell also offers easy-to-follow collection videos which I highly recommend watching prior to testing. Below are the instructions that were included with my test kit.

Unfortunately, I was over-confident when I took my test and must not have read the instructions all the way through. I figured the process was black and white but somehow, I forgot to use the alcohol prep pad prior to the finger prick! The use of the alcohol prep pad was mentioned in the subtext of section 5 in the image above. This was not my proudest moment; I blame mom-brain. Luckily, I washed my hands very well first so I don’t think this mistake caused too much harm.

Using the lancet was the most nerve-racking part. I even activated one of the three lancets provided on my kitchen counter first to see how hard it would prick my finger. I do not recommend doing this as it could damage your countertop. My actual finger prick hurt slightly more than I was expecting, but the excitement of completing the blood drips helped keep my mind off of the pain. To my dismay, after dripping blood onto half of my collection card circles, my ring finger stopped releasing blood. I was not expecting the blood to dry up this fast, even while I was “milking it”. Unwaveringly, I grabbed the third lancet and pricked my other ring finger. I was able to get enough blood out to complete my collection card. However, I struggled near the end because my finger began to dry up yet again.

Is Everlywell legit when it comes to the quality of the test kits? Even though I struggled with my blood draw, my answer is yes. The kit was high-quality and very easy to use when done properly.

I registered my kit and took my test on Sunday, April 25, 2021. It was put in my mailbox on Monday, April 26 and it was picked up by a postal worker on the same day. I received a text message saying that the lab was working on my sample on Sunday, May 2. On Sunday, May 23, I received a text telling me that my results were ready. The text message also included a link to view them. That adds up to a 27-day turnaround between the time I mailed my kit and the time I obtained my results.

To many consumers, 27 days for test results may seem like too long to wait. Let me preface that my test was processed during the Covid-19 pandemic and it’s possible they were running behind due to an influx of Covid tests.

None the less, I was able to wait out the processing time without issue. I just kept telling myself they must be doing an extra thorough job analyzing my blood sample.

Is Everlywell legit when it comes to the speed of test processing? The short answer is no. 27 days is a long time for a consumer to wait for anything in this day and age, even if that does include a few days of shipping time. Though this doesn’t reduce their credibility or the quality of their test kits, I think they could definitely rework their processing somehow to keep up with high demand. I’ve never taken a food sensitivity test at a doctor’s office, but I can’t imagine it would take as long to get your results.

When my results were ready, they were easily accessible and simple to understand. The Food Sensitivity Comprehensive Test measured my IgG reactivity to 204 different foods. For each food outside of normal range, I was given a report with my individual reactivity level, information about each food, and hidden sources of where that can be found within a typical diet.

Some of my results were of no surprise. I was moderately reactive to egg whites, which I already suspected since I feel bloated every time I eat them scrambled.

What was the most shocking to me was that I was sensitive to zuchinni! I haven’t eaten much zucchini in the past, but was planning to make sautéed garlic zucchini as my new genius replacement for macaroni and cheese. I assumed since it’s such a healthy food that there’s no way it could be a dietary stressor. Sure enough, the Everlywell test was spot on. I made a big batch of garlic zucchini a few days after reading my results and I was bed ridden for an hour after dinner due to painful stomach cramping.

I believe the Everlywell Comprehensive Food Sensitivity test was very accurate in my case. It called out several foods I knew I was sensitive to, along with other surprising ones that proved to be factual.

On the other hand, there are a few foods on the list that I think my body handles just fine, like honey and lentils. It’s possible that even though my IgG is moderate for many foods, my body may not experience symptoms from eating them.  Having my food sensitivity test results is key to starting an elimination diet, which is the next step in my healing journey. Because there’s no reason for me to stop eating these healthy foods if they’re not causing my me any harm. I look forward to seeing how my body reacts to removing these reactive foods and then slowly introducing them back into my diet one at a time.

Is Everlywell Legit?

After all of my research and a firsthand test experience, I can confidently say that Everlywell is legit. Although this opinion is mine alone, I feel that using your Food Sensitivity Test results as a guide to an elimination diet can help you figure out which foods are disrupting your life and causing you painful and uncomfortable symptoms.

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