It was true for me too... Six months of sobriety yielded me a harder-than-ever return to the madness.
I think part of it was a false sense of invulnerability from telling myself I was 'better' now that I'd had a break, partly ignorance and belief that I was someone 'different' than all 'those other people who progressed in alcoholism', partly my AV going absolutely wild to play catch-up for being reigned in for six months.