Sims needs dropping awfully quick

I too have noticed this that after a patch, my SIMS seem to have the meters downward spiral.  They also seem to lose their friendhip's and lover's levels quickly.  I don't have a possible solution for this, but I notice that it improves over time.  I have noticed that once I switch households, the problem does not persist any more.  I'm not sure, but a possible 'work around' may be to switch households for a couple SIM days, then go back to the household you want to play. 

Something with the patches, in my experience, seems to make the SIMS being played 'brand new'.  It reminds me of previous SIMS games where the SIMS at the very beginning of existence seemed to have no bladder, no way to have fun, always getting hungry etc etc until they completed certain actions a few times.  With TS4 updates I've had woohoo, that didn't even fill the fun meter completely.  I've had to resort to rocket riding or a gaming mat to fulfil fun needs.  I have not switched to new households right away to test my theory, I've just played 'through it'.

-AL2