I experience what I call a "lacrymal cavalcade" in response to things that trigger my emotions. That's just a fancy way of saying I get all teary, then follows a runny nose. The combo of the crying plus the runny nose makes it hard to breathe and I end up getting out of breath, and the whole thing sort of snowballs!
I don't have these nearly so often now that I've been on mood stabilizers. That keeps me from being overly reactive to stress.