In addition to updating via the launcher, EA also offers manual patches to download for the base game/WA/HELS/Ambitions. The latest versions are 1.14/2.9/3.5/4.2.
The main article at the official forums is
here.
You'll need to check which version of each you currently have and download the correct update. You can find your current version levels in a file called skuversion.txt located in each of your sims 3 game folders.
Example: C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3\Game\Bin\skuversion.txt
Example: C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\The Sims 3 Ambitions\Game\Bin\skuversion.txt
Ultimately, you may be better off backing up your saved games and uninstalling/reinstalling.