Does '到现在' imply a recent change?
No, it does not imply a recent change.

「到現在」does literally translate to until now, but their usage is different, as you've already noted (a continuation of conditions).


In English, until now means practically the same thing as until recently.
In Chinese,「到現在」means something like up to this very day in English.「到現在我還在...」means up to this very day, I'm still...
To say the equivalent of English until now (that is, implying a change in condition), you should say something similar to「到目前爲止...」.「爲止」is an explicit statement that stops the otherwise implied continuation.