I take a vitamin in softgel form. How does that get digested, if at all?

WARNING - GROSS STUFF AHEAD! ---I finally found what I feel is a really good formula multi vitamin/mineral. They are from Puritan's Pride called Mega Vita Gel and they are in softgel form. They ARE kind of huge but you only need to take 2 a day and at 8 months post-op (rny), I don't have too much of a problem getting them down now. Does anyone else take these? Anyway, I was wondering if that outer shell gets broken down so the contents can get into my system. The shell feels kind of thick. I understand that there is very little acid remaining in the new pouch and isn't it the stomach acid that breaks down stuff like this? I tried to see if I could see a pill in my BM (sorry-gross) but I didn't see anything. The only thing weird that happened was that I went without my normally on schedual morning BM for a day. And it was darker and not as loose as usual. I guess it was just my body adjusting to the new pill. ONE MORE ? - If post-ops are supposed to chew everything to liquid before swallowing it, the what about vitamins and medicines which are swallowed whole? Wouldn't the ones that are hard to break down get stuck in the stoma? Or does the pill remain in the pouch until it is broken down completely? Sorry for the gross stuff. I feel really embarrased talking about that stuff.

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