The most common complaint is an inability to think clearly, specifically 'poor attention and concentration, poor short term memory, decreased verbal and interactive skills, and a variety of cognitive defects specific to individuals.' Jerome Engel defines the postictal state as 'manifestations of seizure-induced reversible alterations in neuronal function but not structure.' Commonly after a seizure, a person feels mentally and physically exhausted for up to one or two days. Interictal EEG discharges are those abnormal waveforms not associated with seizure symptoms. The interictal period is often used by neurologists when diagnosing epilepsy since an EEG trace will often show small interictal spiking and other abnormalities known by neurologists as subclinical seizures.

For most people with epilepsy, the interictal state corresponds to more than 99% of their life. Interictal refers to the period between seizures, or convulsions, that are characteristic of an epilepsy disorder.Post-ictal refers to the state shortly after the event.Pre-ictal refers to the state immediately before the actual seizure, stroke, or headache.The following definitions refer to the temporal relation with seizures. In electroencephalography (EEG), the recording during a seizure is said to be 'ictal'.

The word originates from the Latin word ictus, meaning a blow or a stroke.

Ictal period refers to a physiologic state or event such as a seizure, stroke, or headache.

The ictal period is the seizure itself the interictal period is the time between seizures, when brain activity is more normal and the preictal period is the time leading up to a seizure: It usually lasts between 5 and 30 minutes, but sometimes longer in the case of larger or more severe seizures, and is characterized by drowsiness, confusion, nausea, hypertension, headache or migraine, and other disorienting symptoms. The postictal state is the altered state of consciousness after an epileptic seizure. Altered state of consciousness after an epileptic seizure

Aural phase seizure