diff -r bf997b22df06 Include/pystate.h
--- a/Include/pystate.h	Tue Jan 19 08:48:48 2016 +0100
+++ b/Include/pystate.h	Tue Jan 19 13:24:38 2016 +0100
@@ -169,6 +169,11 @@ PyAPI_FUNC(void) _PyGILState_Reinit(void
 #endif
 
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyThreadState *) PyThreadState_Get(void);
+#ifdef WITH_THREAD
+/* Similar to PyThreadState_Get(), but don't call Py_FatalError()
+ * if it is NULL */
+PyAPI_FUNC(PyThreadState *) _PyThreadState_FastGet(void);
+#endif
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyThreadState *) PyThreadState_Swap(PyThreadState *);
 PyAPI_FUNC(PyObject *) PyThreadState_GetDict(void);
 PyAPI_FUNC(int) PyThreadState_SetAsyncExc(long, PyObject *);
diff -r bf997b22df06 Modules/faulthandler.c
--- a/Modules/faulthandler.c	Tue Jan 19 08:48:48 2016 +0100
+++ b/Modules/faulthandler.c	Tue Jan 19 13:24:38 2016 +0100
@@ -490,7 +490,7 @@ faulthandler_thread(void *unused)
         assert(st == PY_LOCK_FAILURE);
 
         /* get the thread holding the GIL, NULL if no thread hold the GIL */
-        current = (PyThreadState*)_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(&_PyThreadState_Current);
+        current = _PyThreadState_FastGet();
 
         _Py_write_noraise(thread.fd, thread.header, (int)thread.header_len);
 
diff -r bf997b22df06 Objects/dictobject.c
--- a/Objects/dictobject.c	Tue Jan 19 08:48:48 2016 +0100
+++ b/Objects/dictobject.c	Tue Jan 19 13:24:38 2016 +0100
@@ -1064,8 +1064,7 @@ PyDict_GetItem(PyObject *op, PyObject *k
        Let's just hope that no exception occurs then...  This must be
        _PyThreadState_Current and not PyThreadState_GET() because in debug
        mode, the latter complains if tstate is NULL. */
-    tstate = (PyThreadState*)_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(
-        &_PyThreadState_Current);
+    tstate = _PyThreadState_FastGet();
     if (tstate != NULL && tstate->curexc_type != NULL) {
         /* preserve the existing exception */
         PyObject *err_type, *err_value, *err_tb;
@@ -1102,8 +1101,7 @@ PyObject *
        Let's just hope that no exception occurs then...  This must be
        _PyThreadState_Current and not PyThreadState_GET() because in debug
        mode, the latter complains if tstate is NULL. */
-    tstate = (PyThreadState*)_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(
-        &_PyThreadState_Current);
+    tstate = _PyThreadState_FastGet();
     if (tstate != NULL && tstate->curexc_type != NULL) {
         /* preserve the existing exception */
         PyObject *err_type, *err_value, *err_tb;
diff -r bf997b22df06 Python/errors.c
--- a/Python/errors.c	Tue Jan 19 08:48:48 2016 +0100
+++ b/Python/errors.c	Tue Jan 19 13:24:38 2016 +0100
@@ -152,13 +152,7 @@ PyErr_SetString(PyObject *exception, con
 PyObject *
 PyErr_Occurred(void)
 {
-    /* If there is no thread state, PyThreadState_GET calls
-       Py_FatalError, which calls PyErr_Occurred.  To avoid the
-       resulting infinite loop, we inline PyThreadState_GET here and
-       treat no thread as no error. */
-    PyThreadState *tstate =
-        ((PyThreadState*)_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(&_PyThreadState_Current));
-
+    PyThreadState *tstate = _PyThreadState_FastGet();
     return tstate == NULL ? NULL : tstate->curexc_type;
 }
 
diff -r bf997b22df06 Python/pystate.c
--- a/Python/pystate.c	Tue Jan 19 08:48:48 2016 +0100
+++ b/Python/pystate.c	Tue Jan 19 13:24:38 2016 +0100
@@ -489,6 +489,13 @@ void
 
 
 PyThreadState *
+_PyThreadState_FastGet(void)
+{
+    return (PyThreadState*)_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(&_PyThreadState_Current);
+}
+
+
+PyThreadState *
 PyThreadState_Get(void)
 {
     PyThreadState *tstate = (PyThreadState*)_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(
diff -r bf997b22df06 Python/sysmodule.c
--- a/Python/sysmodule.c	Tue Jan 19 08:48:48 2016 +0100
+++ b/Python/sysmodule.c	Tue Jan 19 13:24:38 2016 +0100
@@ -1397,7 +1397,7 @@ error:
     Py_XDECREF(name);
     Py_XDECREF(value);
     /* No return value, therefore clear error state if possible */
-    if (_Py_atomic_load_relaxed(&_PyThreadState_Current))
+    if (_PyThreadState_FastGet())
         PyErr_Clear();
 }