Really painful braxton hicks?

[poppypd]

Last night I felt these tightenings coming on all round my belly. It got progressively stronger and more painful. I tried a bath and I suppose it was a little better in there. I went to bed and it got worse, the pain continued and it didn't seem to break either like a normal contraction would, I tried out a few breathing techniques but because I was also panicking about it being so early to be experiencing this sort of pain that they didn't really work. At one point I couldn't answer my OH as it was so painful it was taking my breath away. Phoned the emergency midwife number who suggested a bath 2 paracetamols and if it was still happening in an hour to call again. The pain subsided after 10 minutes, came back again 20 minutes later, same intensity but not as long.
None since, but it did shake me a bit, came out of no where, no-one has ever suggested BH could be that painful, most say 'painless' in fact.

Anyone else had these? Will post in tri 3 also.