Did you start a new game or were you using an old save? For every patch to come out I always start a new game, I does this also for mod's, I started a new game several times and loaded past saves, I'm almost certain that patch 1.8 is at fault, I can't explain why the issues would be persistent even after a fresh reinstall of "vanilla" Skyrim with no mods hence "vanilla" other then 1.8 being the criminal, 'cause 1.7 works great.